James Lawson: A Public Intellectual

Among the great public intellectuals of our time is James Lawson, one of the most influential civil rights activists alongside Martin Luther King Jr.; he has been called ‘the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world’ by King himself. Although his name is not as widely known, his influence on the public sphere is undeniable. Born into a large, midwestern family and raised by generations of reverends, Lawson grew up with a very strong set of moral values. In later years, James Lawson studied Gandhian Satyagraha, a form of direct nonviolence, which, combined with his religious upbringing, led him to develop his own methods of peaceful resistance against social inequality. His work in organizing peaceful protests and teaching his own nonviolent principles had a lasting impact on the public realm. Not only did he accomplish immense progress in the fight for racial equality, but his ideas had a long lasting impact on leaders to come, such as James Bevel, Diane Nash, John Lewis, and Bernard Lafayette.

After becoming a reverend during his senior year of high school, James Lawson attended Baldwin-Wallace College in 1947 and became involved in numerous political activist groups. The first of these groups was the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which addresses “crisis-level civil and human rights issues through nonviolent activism, advocacy, education, and the empowering of individuals and local communities at the grassroots level” (FORUSA). He then joined the Congress of Racial Equality, whose mission is congruent with that of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. This was the first time that Lawson intellectually applied his religious moral values to a political organization’s mission.

Lawson began his nonviolent practice in a way that some may regard as atypical, inspired by Mohandas Gandhi’s belief in ‘purifying’:

“Lawson had refused to register with a military draft board, declined even to apply for conscientious objector status, student deferment, or ministerial exemption, choosing to suffer the penalty for civil disobedience rather than escape on a technicality. His time in prison didn’t for a second stymie US war-making in Korea, perhaps had no immediately discernible social effect whatsoever, but it was a form of nonviolence training — developing fearlessness, strengthening personal integrity… and it helped prepare Lawson for work that eventually did contribute to historic changes” (Braatz 5)

Lawson viewed prison as a form of soul preparation for the difficult work to come in his peaceful fight for racial equality. Even this early in his life, Lawson was so committed to his moral values that he was willing to accept a prison sentence to adhere to his beliefs and grow from the experience as a result. Not only did prison teach him discipline, but he believed arrests such as his rallied attention to the cause. After his sentence concluded, Lawson traveled to India to work for the Methodist Board of Missionaries and further his studies into Gandhian Satyagraha.

Satyagraha translates to “truth-force”, and the principles it teaches relate closely to said translation. Satyagraha contains two primary practices: civil disobedience and non-compliance. To Gandhi, civil obedience refers to someone of high regard for the law politely breaking it and achieving an arrest, while non-compliance refers to a refusal to cooperate under the political conditions one is trying to abolish. These are the primary principles Lawson studied during his time in India, simultaneously adopting an attitude of nonviolence that would drastically influence his teachings back in the United States.

After returning to the United States, James Lawson was introduced to Martin Luther King Jr., who immediately recognized the value of Lawson’s vision and convinced him to move to the South to aid in the Civil Rights Movement. Lawson attended Vanderbilt University, where he led numerous nonviolent resistance workshops, directed the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Lawson found that many people brushed off his ideas at first, believing nonviolence to be naive and unrealistic. However, most of his students adopted them in time after understanding the belief system it relied on; one of these students is Diane Nash, who went on to lead the Freedom Rides and assist with the Selma Voting Rights Campaign:

“‘The arguments that he put forth made sense, such as retaliating with violence just equals twice as much violence,’ said Nash... ‘To be examples ourselves of the kind of community we were trying to bring about — you don’t create good will by being violent against people, even if it’s retaliation… ‘I think his impact was fundamental and tremendous. I think that he, more than anyone else really, is why the civil rights movement was nonviolent’” (Hall).

Lawson believed with great intensity that a nonviolent movement would not only adhere to the moral values instilled in him since his childhood, but also yield a greater outcome. There is more room for negotiation in a nonviolent campaign, and it displays more strength of character. The public could see the movements Lawson initiated and be inspired by his bravery and strength of character; nothing made him back down, not even the threat of prison or physical harm.

Lawson’s teachings did not remain in Tennessee, as he moved to Memphis after the Nashville sit-ins to continue his work as a pastor at the Centenary Methodist Church. His contact with Martin Luther King Jr. did not cease until King’s unfortunate assassination in 1968 following his famous “I Went to the Mountaintop” speech. Even after King’s death, Lawson never stopped his activism. In 1974, James Lawson moved to Los Angeles to continue fighting for the rights of minority groups; his activism was geared toward immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, the Iraq wars, poverty, and more. Additionally, he became the national chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation: a long-awaited title considering his lifelong involvement. Although he retired in 1999, his lasting impact on nonviolent protest and continued support in numerous social causes, even today, are just as prevalent in society.

At the base of James Lawson’s ideas is the intense desire for a just society based upon the principles of equality, peace, and mutual respect. Evidently, this sort of humane, utopian society has not yet existed in reality; to make up for this, Lawson believes that it is our duty to stand up for the rights of those who are overlooked, oppressed, and harmed. While his beliefs are rooted in religion, they only grew throughout his experience in India and work as a civil rights activist. Lawson himself stated in one of his sermons:

“The politics of Jesus and the politics of God are that people should be fed, that people have access to life, that people should be treated equally and justly… Especially the marginalized. The poor, the illiterate, the jailed, the hungry, the naked — those are all terms Jesus uses. The alien, the stranger, the foreigner, you’re supposed to treat them as you do yourself” (Lawson).

Lawson does not refer to the Civil Rights Movement as such, but rather as the ‘Nonviolent Movement of America’: a true testament to the ideas of Lawson himself. He views his work as a continued movement that will not end as opposed to a single mission with one goal. His practices did not end with the demise of segregation, and they will not stop until nonviolence is a universal practice. He did not fight for the outcome, but rather for the universal adoption of his method. And if said adoption occurs, he believes every social injustice would be, for the most part, solved.

James Lawson is the perfect example of the public intellectual that is described in Stephen Mack’s essay “Wicked Paradox: The Cleric as Public Intellectual”; one that is influenced by religion, yet works for a democratic cause. As argued by Mack:

“In many ways, American political history is the history of activist theologians from the right and the left. These men and women have been intellectuals of a special kind—people whose religious training and experience shaped their vision of a just society and required them to work for it. They have been key players in some of our most important reform movements, from abolitionism, the labor movement, and civil rights to the peace movements of various generations” (Mack).

Lawson was undoubtedly motivated by his vision of a society reliant on equality and peace, stemming from his religious background. While some may argue that democratic and religious intellectuals are somewhat of opposites, in this case Lawson’s religious values led to his political interest and eventual involvement. Another statement that stuck out to me in Mack’s essay is that both the democratic and religious intellectual “offer a vision of personal identity that is derived from beliefs about how we should relate to everything around us” (Mack). This human desire to dig deeper into our own existence and explain everything around us is often the driving force of ideas and action. It is not harmful to be religious, as some democratic intellectuals argue, and it is impossible for an intellectual with a religious background to leave their faith out of their ideas. Lawson used his beliefs as a motivator to correct the world that he viewed as plagued with violence: a place in need of love, peace, and change. On another hand, the way some people use religious views in their ideas and teachings can be harmful. Nevertheless, it is not helpful to see religion and automatically associate it with damage; rather, we must analyze the way in which it is used. In the case of Lawson, it was used for the general welfare of the oppressed.

James Lawson is undoubtedly one of the most influential public intellectuals alive today. His strong, moral character derived from his faith and his strategic, nonviolent actions led to the development of tangible practices that could be passed down to future generations of social leaders. His impact on society is evident in more ways than one. One of his most tangible accomplishments was his work alongside Martin Luther King Jr. to end segregation and to diminish racial inequality. However, the lasting impacts of his ideas were just as significant. He initiated a movement of direct, nonviolent resistance that the United States had not yet seen before. He shared these ideas with the youth, the future leaders of social activist movements, and forever changed the way society views injustice. There is still much work to be done, and perhaps there will never come a time when this fact is not true. However, without the voice and teachings of James Lawson, that possibility would be definite.