How Did Lawson Contribute To The Civil Rights Movement

Reverend James Morris Lawson is a remarkable man who is known for his influential contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in both the South and in Tennessee. Lawson is also known to many as an important advocate for the philosophy of nonviolent protests. He was born in a place called Uniontown in Pennsylvania on September 22, 1928. His parents are Reverend James Morris Lawson Sr. and Philane May Cover. He was raised in a house with ten other children, nine of which were biological while one was adopted. Even though he was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania he grew up in Ohio in a town known as Massillon, which at the time was a predominately white area. This is where Lawson received his primary and secondary education. Lawson’s
This was prevalent because when he was young he would punch anyone who called him by racist terms. One day when he came home he told his mother about an incident he was extremely proud of. He told her that a boy sitting in a car had called him the n-word, so he reached inside the car and slapped him. His mom stopped dead in her tracks and asked him if that did anything good by assaulting the boy. By her asking him the one simple question it changed the way he though and set him on a new path. According to Heidi Hall (2013), Lawson said that from that day on he “made decisions that changed his life forever and basically directed him toward
Gandhi and his philosophy, which was all about using passive resistance when it comes to fighting for the injustices of the world. Learning about Gandhi gave him an extra push into becoming an activist for nonviolence. While in high school James and a friend of his staged their own little sit in with just the two of them. This was due to them being sick and tired of the unfair treatments towards African Americans. So, they entered a food establishment and demanded that they be served. The establishment unenthusiastically gave in and served the two boys, but told them they are not allowed to return ever again. After that day Lawson continued to protest by going into white only restaurants. According to JRank, “from his protest encounters, he discerned that the region’s mindset was not unlike that in the South”. He became an activist at a young