View source for Joseph Lowery

{{Short description|American minister and civil rights activist (1921–2020)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{for multi|the English engraver| Joseph Wilson Lowry|the Australian footballer|Joe Lowrey}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Reverend]]
| birth_name          = Joseph Echols Lowery
| image               = Joseph_Lowery_2000.jpg
| caption              =         Lowery in 2000
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1921|10|6}}
| birth_place         = [[Huntsville, Alabama]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2020|3|27|1921|10|6}}
| death_place         = [[Atlanta]], Georgia, U.S.
| office1             = 3rd President of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]
| term_start1         = 1977
| term_end1           = 1997
| predecessor1        = [[Ralph Abernathy]]
| successor1          = [[Martin Luther King III]]
| other_names         = 
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Agnes Moore|||end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Evelyn G. Lowery|Evelyn Gibson]]|1950|2013|end=died}}
}}
| children            = 5
| known_for           = [[Civil rights movement]]
| blank1              = Affiliations
| data1               = Georgia's Coalition for the People's Agenda;<br />Alabama Civic Affairs Association;<br />Black Leadership Forum;<br />Lowery Institute
| monuments           = 
| awards              = [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (2009)
| education           = [[Paine College]]<br />[[Payne Theological Seminary]]
}}
'''Joseph Echols Lowery''' (October 6, 1921 – March 27, 2020) was an American minister in the [[United Methodist Church]] and leader in the [[civil rights movement]]. He founded the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and others, serving as its vice president, later chairman of the board, and its third president from 1977 to 1997. Lowery participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued his civil rights work into the 21st century. He was called the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement".<ref name=Kirkland/> In 2009, Lowery received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] from U.S. President [[Barack Obama]].<ref name="Elliott">{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/03/28/517545662/hold-hold-hold-rev-joseph-lowery-dean-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-age |title=Rev. Joseph Lowery, 'Dean' Of The Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 98 |last=Elliott |first=Debbie |date=March 28, 2020 |website=National Public Radio |language=en |access-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref>

==Biography==
Joseph E. Lowery was born to Leroy and Dora Lowery on October 6, 1921. His mother was a teacher and his father owned a small business in [[Alabama]].<ref name=USAToday/> When he was 11, he was abused and punched by a white police officer for not getting off the sidewalk as a white man was passing.  Lowery ran home to get a gun, but his father arrived and talked him out of it.<ref name="remembering"/>  His family sent him away while he attended middle school in [[Chicago]], staying with relatives, but he returned to [[Huntsville, Alabama]], to complete [[William Hooper Councill High School]].<ref name=Haskins/> He attended [[Knoxville College]] and [[Alabama A&M University|Alabama A&M College]]. Lowery graduated from [[Paine College]].  He was a member of [[Alpha Phi Alpha]] fraternity.<ref name=USAToday>{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/27/joseph-lowery-martin-luther-king-jr-aide/2932276001/ |title=Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader and Martin Luther King Jr. aide, dies at 98 |date=March 28, 2020 |work=USA Today |access-date=March 28, 2020 |agency=Associated Press |language=en-US}}</ref>

He attended ministerial training at [[Payne Theological Seminary]] and later on, he completed a [[Doctor of Divinity]] degree at the Chicago Ecumenical Institute.<ref name=Haskins>{{cite book |last=Haskins |first=Jim |author2=Kathleen Benson |title=Black Stars: African-American Religious Leaders |year=2008 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |location=San Francisco, CA |pages=91 }}</ref>  He married [[Evelyn G. Lowery|Evelyn Gibson]] in 1950, a civil rights activist and leader in her own right. She was the sister of the late Harry Gibson, an activist, and elder member of the Northern Illinois conference of the United Methodist Church, Chicago area. She died on September 26, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Civil rights activist Evelyn Lowery dies after stroke| date=September 26, 2013 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/obit-evelyn-lowery/?hpt=us_c2|publisher=CNN|access-date=September 26, 2013}}</ref> They had three daughters: Yvonne Kennedy, Karen Lowery, and Cheryl Lowery-Osborne.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/civil-rights-icon-rev-joseph-e-lowery-dies-98-n1170996|title=Civil rights icon Rev. Joseph E. Lowery dies at 98|publisher=NBC News|first=Phil|last=Helsel|work=The Associated Press|date=March 28, 2020|access-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref> Lowery also had two sons, Joseph Jr. and LeRoy III, from an earlier marriage to Agnes Moore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/joseph-lowery-civil-rights-leader-and-aide-to-martin-luther-king-jr-dies-at-98/2020/03/28/efe2b864-70bd-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html|title=Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader and aide to Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 98|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Krissah|last=Thompson|date=March 28, 2020|access-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref>

===American civil rights career===
Lowery was pastor of the Warren Street Methodist Church,<ref>{{cite news |title=Negroes Plan Mass Meeting In Mobile |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=January 2, 1957 |page=3 |access-date=May 20, 2012 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IA5SAAAAIBAJ&pg=3973,324804&dq=lowery+warren-street+methodist&hl=en}}</ref> in [[Mobile, Alabama]], from 1952 to 1961. His career in the Civil Rights Movement took off in the early 1950s. After [[Rosa Parks]]' arrest in 1955, he helped lead the [[Montgomery bus boycott]]. He headed the Alabama Civic Affairs Association, an organization devoted to the desegregation of buses and public places. In 1957, along with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Fred Shuttlesworth]], and others, Lowery founded the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] and subsequently led the organization as its president from 1977 to 1997.<ref name=Haskins/><ref name=Kirkland>{{Cite encyclopedia |year= 2004  |title=Joseph Lowery (b. 1924) |encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press.  |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/joseph-lowery-b-1924 |last=Kirkland |first=W. Michael |others=Staff editors (2019)|language=en}}</ref>

Lowery's car and other property, along with that of other civil rights leaders, was seized in 1959 by the [[State of Alabama]] to pay damages resulting from a libel suit. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] later reversed this decision in ''[[New York Times Co. v. Sullivan]]''. At the request of King, Lowery participated in the [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma to Montgomery march]] of 1965.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/us/joseph-lowery-dead/index.html|title=Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader, dies at 98|author1=Amir Vera |author2=Tricia Escobedo|website=CNN|date=March 28, 2020 }}</ref> 

He was a co-founder and president of the Black Leadership Forum, a [[consortium]] of [[African American|black]] [[advocacy groups]]. This Forum protested the existence of [[Apartheid]] in [[South Africa]] from the mid-1970s through the end of white minority rule there. Lowery was among the first five black men to be arrested outside the South African Embassy in [[Washington, D.C.]], during the Free South Africa movement. He served as the pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta from 1986 through 1992, adding over a thousand members and leaving the church with {{convert|10|acre|m2}} of land.<ref name="remembering">{{cite news |title=Remembering the Rev. Joseph Lowery |newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=March 28, 2020 |access-date=March 28, 2020 |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/remembering-the-rev-joseph-lowery/ZDDQpmposlIvRu6I9mhcXI/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/joseph-lowery-obit/85-ab0997c6-1010-4e43-9b97-dc52a2c1d9e9|title=Civil rights leader Joseph Lowery dies at 98|work=11Alive|publisher=[[WXIA-TV]]|date=March 27, 2020|access-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref>

To honor him, the city government of Atlanta renamed Ashby Street for him. Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard is just west of downtown Atlanta and runs north-south beginning at West Marietta Street near the campus of the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]] and stretching to White Street in the "West End" neighborhood, running past Atlanta's [[Historically Black Colleges and Universities]]: [[Clark Atlanta University]], [[Spelman College]], [[Morehouse College]], and [[Morris Brown College]].<ref name="remembering" />

Lowery advocated for [[LGBT]] civil rights,<ref>{{cite web|last=Caldwell|first=Gilbert H.|title=The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, Former President of SCLC Signs the United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church Statement|publisher=Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns|date=May 4, 2000|url=http://www.umaffirm.org/gcnews10.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221130220/http://www.umaffirm.org/gcnews10.html|archive-date=December 21, 2008}}</ref> including [[civil union]]s and, in 2012, [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalactionnetwork.net/press/open-letter-embracing-president-obamas-position-on-equality-for-gay-lesbian-individuals/|title=Open Letter Embracing President Obama's Position On Equality for Gay & Lesbian Individuals - National Action Network|date=May 11, 2012 |access-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref>

===Death===
Lowery died on March 27, 2020, in [[Atlanta]], Georgia.<ref name="ajcDeath">{{Cite news |last1=Brett |first1=Jennifer |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/civil-rights-legend-rev-joseph-lowery-has-died/dmBS9iJu99813QHqCr6QdI/ |title=Civil rights legend Rev. Joseph Lowery has died |date=March 27, 2020 |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=March 27, 2020 |last2=Suggs |first2=Ernie |language=en}}</ref>

===Awards===
[[File:Barack Obama and Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery 2011-01-18.jpg|thumb|Lowery meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in 2011]]
Lowery received several awards. The [[NAACP]] gave him their Lifetime Achievement Award at its 1997 convention calling him the "dean of the civil rights movement". He received the inaugural [[Walter Reuther|Walter P. Reuther]] Humanitarian Award from [[Wayne State University]] in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.loweryinstitute.org/about-joseph-lowery/|title=Lowery Institute|access-date=October 23, 2019|archive-date=October 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023045426/http://www.loweryinstitute.org/about-joseph-lowery/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He has also received the [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] Center Peace Award and the [[National Urban League]]'s [[Whitney M. Young]] Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantavoice.com/articles/civil-rights-activist-joseph-e-lowerys-legacy-still-thrives-in-atlanta/|title=Civil rights activist Joseph E. Lowery's legacy still thrives in Atlanta {{!}} The Atlanta Voice|first=Martel |last=Sharpe |date=February 22, 2019|website=The Atlanta Voice {{!}} Atlanta GA News|access-date=January 18, 2020}}</ref> ''[[Ebony Magazine|Ebony]]'' named him one of the 15 greatest black preachers, describing him as, "the consummate voice of biblical social relevancy, a focused voice, speaking truth to power."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.fox5ny.com/news/family-dean-of-the-civil-rights-movement-rev-joseph-e-lowery-passes-away |title=Family: 'Dean of the civil rights movement' Rev. Joseph E. Lowery passes away |date=March 27, 2020 |work=Fox 5 New York |access-date=March 28, 2020 |language=en-US}}</ref> Lowery also received several honorary doctorates from colleges and universities including, [[Dillard University]], [[Morehouse College]], [[Alabama State University]], [[University of Alabama in Huntsville]], and [[Emory University]]. In 2004, Lowery was honored at the [[International Civil Rights Walk of Fame]] at the [[Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site]], located in [[Atlanta]], Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2004/11/602.html|title=Civil rights activist Joseph Lowery to speak at Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation Jan. 10|website=UCSC.edu|publisher=[[University of California, Santa Cruz]]|last=Donahue|first=Louise|date=November 29, 2004|access-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref>

Lowery was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by [[Barack Obama]], on July 30, 2009.<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/video/President-Obama-Honors-2009-Medal-of-Freedom-Recipients#transcript "President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients"], White House Office of the Press Secretary, July 30, 2009</ref> He was also given the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award by the [[Birmingham Civil Rights Institute]] that year.<ref>MacDonald, Ginny (August 8, 2009) "Civil rights pioneer Lowery to be honored." ''Birmingham News''</ref>

[[Delta Airlines]] [[Boeing 757-200]] N6716C  is named for Lowery.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/16525193@N05/22914634619/ | title=N6716C Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 | date=October 3, 2015 }}</ref>

==Remarks at Coretta Scott King's funeral==
In 2006, at [[Coretta Scott King]]'s funeral, Lowery received a standing ovation when he denounced the violence of [[Iraq War|war in Iraq]] compared to injustice for the poor, remarking before four U.S. presidents in attendance:

<blockquote>We know now there were no [[weapons of mass destruction]] over there. But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor!</blockquote>

Conservative observers said his comments were inappropriate in a setting meant to honor the life of Mrs. King, especially considering [[George W. Bush]] was present at the ceremony.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/08/otsc.greenfield/index.html|title=Greenfield: 'Do you really do this at a funeral?'|last=Greenfield|first=Jeff|date=February 8, 2006|work=[[CNN]]|access-date=January 11, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11237163|title='Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Feb. 7th|last=Matthews|first=Chris|date=February 7, 2006|work=Hardball with Chris Matthews|access-date=January 11, 2009}}</ref>

==President Barack Obama's inauguration benediction==
On January 20, 2009, Lowery delivered the benediction at the inauguration of Senator [[Barack Obama]] as the 44th President of the [[United States of America]].  He opened with lines from "[[Lift Every Voice and Sing]]", also known as "The Negro National Anthem", by [[James Weldon Johnson]]. He concluded with the following, an interpolation of [[Big Bill Broonzy]]'s "Black, Brown and White": 
<blockquote>
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get [in] back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen! Say Amen! And Amen! <ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4SrWpZNd-yocKSO7_9FO51iLJowD95R4RTG0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123145655/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4SrWpZNd-yocKSO7_9FO51iLJowD95R4RTG0|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 23, 2009|title=Text of Rev. Lowery's inauguration benediction|date=January 20, 2009|publisher=AP|access-date=2009-01-20}}</ref></blockquote>

A number of conservative pundits including [[Glenn Beck]], [[Michael Savage]], and [[Michelle Malkin]] criticized this final passage, accusing it of being "divisive"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/is-this-how-the-post-racial-obama-administration-begins|title=Is This How the Post-Racial Obama Administration Begins?|last=Beck|first=Glenn|date=January 20, 2009|work=FOXNews|access-date=January 21, 2009}}</ref> and "racialist".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/20/about-that-race-based-benediction/|title=About that race-based benediction: "When white will embrace what is right"|date=January 20, 2009|publisher=Michelle Malkin|access-date=January 23, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.melbourne.anglican.com.au/main.php?pg=news&news_id=19135&s=157 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100424071747/http://www.melbourne.anglican.com.au/main.php?pg=news&news_id=19135&s=157 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 24, 2010 |title=Prayers for America's day of celebration |date=January 21, 2009 |publisher=Anglican Media Melbourne |access-date=January 21, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0109/587803.html |title=Inaugural Benediction Causes Firestorm |date=January 21, 2009 |access-date=January 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125010723/http://abc3340.com/news/stories/0109/587803.html |archive-date=January 25, 2009 }}</ref> Reporters in attendance called the passage a mocking of racial stereotypes, and said that the crowd received it with good humor.<ref name="WSJ Inauguration">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123249749881900371?mod=googlenews_wsj|title=Celebration Stirs a New Racial Optimism |last=Kaufman|first=Jonathan|date= January 21, 2009 |work="The Rev. Joseph Lowery, in his closing prayer, drew laughter when he mocked racial stereotypes and prayed for a day "when black will not be asked to get back..."|publisher=Wall Street Journal|access-date=January 22, 2009}}</ref><ref name="USA TODAY Inauguration">{{cite news|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/01/61651854/1|title=Rev. Joseph Lowery's impassioned benediction|last=Grossman|first=Cathy Lynn|date=January 20, 2009|work="Lowery also brought a smile to the president with a recitation he's used before, asking God to ..."|publisher=USA Today|access-date=January 22, 2009}}</ref><ref name="REUTERS INAUGURATION">{{cite news|url=http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/01/20/rhyming-reverend-gets-last-word-at-obama-inaugural/|title=Front Row Washington Tracking U.S. politics " Previous Post Next Post " January 20th, 2009 Rhyming reverend gets last word at Obama inaugural|last=Mikkelsen|first=Randall|date=January 20, 2009|work="...what is right," Lowery said to laughter from the vast audience."|publisher=Reuters (News Wire)|access-date=January 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124035042/http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/01/20/rhyming-reverend-gets-last-word-at-obama-inaugural/|archive-date=January 24, 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of civil rights leaders]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{archival records|title=The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection}}
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{cite journal |title=The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection |url=https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/auc.199:9999 |website=RADAR |publisher=[[Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library]]}}
*[http://www.visionaryproject.org/loweryjoseph Joseph Lowery's oral history video excerpts] at The National Visionary Leadership Project
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060405100922/http://www.jcu.edu/news/mlk_lowery.htm January 24, 2006 lecture at John Carroll University]
*[http://www.loweryinstitute.org Lowery Institute]
*[http://freedomroadproject.blogspot.com/2009/01/black-brown-white.html Freedom Road Blog on Lowery's Broonzy Reference in Benediction]
*{{C-SPAN|3671}}

{{SCLC presidents}}
{{Civil rights movement}}
{{African American topics}}
{{Martin Luther King Jr.}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowery, Joseph}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:African-American activists]]
[[Category:African-American Methodist clergy]]
[[Category:American Methodist clergy]]
[[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]]
[[Category:Alabama A&M University alumni]]
[[Category:American anti–Iraq War activists]]
[[Category:Knoxville College alumni]]
[[Category:Paine College alumni]]
[[Category:Clergy from Atlanta]]
[[Category:Activists from Atlanta]]
[[Category:People from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:American nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:American United Methodist clergy]]