US civil rights hero James Lawson dies at 95

Dr Martin Luther King praised Lawson as chief strategist of racial equality protests in the 1960s.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatchRegisterSign InHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUK General ElectionUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC VerifySportBusinessFuture of BusinessTechnology of BusinessWork CultureInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersUS civil rights hero James Lawson dies at 9514 hours agoBy Max Matza, BBC NewsShareGetty ImagesJames Lawson, the black civil rights activist who travelled to India to study non-violent protest and served as chief strategist to Dr Martin Luther King Jr, has died at the age of 95.

Lawson, a Methodist minister, learned Mahatma Gandhi's principles of civil disobedience and taught them to protesters opposing racial segregation in the US.

Through his workshops, he instructed countless activists on how to passively resist horrific violence and threats from the police and angry white mobs in order to expose the immorality of racism.

King repeatedly praised his methods, calling him in a speech the day before his assassination one of the great "noble men" of the black struggle in America.

King, who met Lawson when they were both 28-year-olds, also called his ally “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world”.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw00w25x2pko

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