- Collection:
- Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with James M. Lawson, March 17, 1964
- Creator:
- Lawson, James M., 1928-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Warren, Robert Penn, 1905-1989
- Date of Original:
- 1964-03-17
- Subject:
- African American leadership
African Americans--Civil rights
Civil rights demonstrations
Civil rights demonstrations--Tennessee--Nashville
Civil rights leaders--United States
Civil rights movements--United States
Civil rights workers
Civil rights--Tennessee--Memphis
Civil rights--Tennessee--Nashville
Nonviolence--Philosophy
Race relations
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Nonviolence
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Vanderbilt University - People:
- Lawson, James M., 1928- --Interviews
Lawson, James M., 1928-
Clark, Kenneth Bancroft, 1914-2005
Evers, Charles, 1922-2020
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968 - Location:
- United States, 39.76, -98.5
United States, Tennessee, Davidson County, Nashville, 36.16589, -86.78444
United States, Tennessee, Shelby County, Memphis, 35.14953, -90.04898 - Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
- Type:
- Sound
- Description:
- James M. Lawson (1928- ) was a longtime peace activist and served as a tutor on non-violence to civil rights leaders. Lawson began his work in Nashville, Tennessee where he trained citizens on non-violent tactics to use in sit-ins at downtown Nashville lunch counters. Lawson was one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he was an organizer of the Freedom Rides in 1961, and was chair of the Strategy Committee for the Memphis Sanitation Strike during which Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Lawson later protested the Cold War and the war in Vietnam. In this interview James M. Lawson describes his involvement with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and his organization of the sit-ins in Nashville. He discusses how his involvement with the sit-ins resulted in his expulsion from the Vanderbilt University Divinity School and the support he received from the Vanderbilt University faculty. Lawson describes the influence of the police on mob violence during civil rights demonstrations and how civil rights workers protect themselves against the threat of violence. Lawson discusses how his belief in nonviolence has been influenced by Gandhi's teachings and describes a connection between non-violence and Christianity.
- Local Identifier:
- 2002oh109_rpwcr004
- Metadata URL:
- https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7k3j390t8r
- Language:
- eng
- Rights Holder:
- All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
- Additional Rights Information:
- Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Kentucky. Libraries
- Rights:
-
