James Lawson

James Lawson was a Methodist minister and pacifist who trained civil rights organizers in nonviolent direct action. He refused to cooperate with the military draft during the Korean War and spent 13 months in federal prison. After his release he went to India, where he studied Gandhi’s methods. In Nashville he ran workshops that prepared students to challenge segregation at lunch counters. Diane Nash, John Lewis, and James Bevel were among the activists he trained. Lawson was repeatedly jailed during the civil rights movement and later helped organize the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike.