Continue the Legacy
Has Google ever been wrong? It has quite a lot of good, fact based information, but it isn’t without its flaws. For example, if you decided to dive into the past and look up when the civil rights movement ended, Google tells you “1968”. But is that really true? The civil rights movement is actually an ongoing force. Although the civil rights issues in our modern day world are less visible than in the past, we are still fighting very important inequities. During the presumed civil rights movement, even the black history heroes knew that the fight wasn’t over in 1968; they remained active in the culture.
March on Washington. United States Information Agency, 1963
Civil rights leader, minister, and nonprofit executive Joseph Lowery was one of these heroes. He experienced injustices all his life, even as a child,
“I remember walking to school a long way, across town to get to the colored school. I remember walking back home in the afternoons, coming through a hostile, white community. I remember a family called Hoopers, a white family. They had some mean boys who got home about the same time we got to their house. Their school was near, closer, and they were home usually when we passed by. And sometimes they would throw rocks. And sometimes we'd have a rock battle. Occasionally, we might wrestle a little bit and swing a few fists, but there were about five of them and it'd be two of us…But…it never seemed to be anything that anybody got seriously hurt, although we anticipated it with a great deal of fear and trepidation from time to time.”
As he grew, he saw the world as it was - that civil injustices were extremely and painfully normalized:
“...When I was probably just moved from elementary to high school, I was coming out of my dad's sweet shop…and as I was coming out of the door, a big white policeman was coming in…And he punched me in the stomach with his nightstick and said, "Get back, n*gger", and "don't you see this white man coming in the door". And, of course, I got back.”
Trading humanity for the chance to live another day, black people were trapped in a vicious cycle of suppression. But young Joseph Lowery never accepted that this was the way things should be. He always wanted to fight back even if he didn’t exactly know how:
“And when he [the cop] came in, I went out and went home. I lived down the street, and I remembered my daddy had a little pearl handled pistol… in his drawer. And I went to get that pistol to shoot this cop. And when I came out of the door…my dad met me on the front porch…He was there, and saw something was wrong with me. I was crying. And then he saw my hand in my pocket and took the pistol away from me…And finally when I told him what it was all about, he then, the next day went to see the mayor to complain. And I'll never forget what he told me the mayor told him… “I sympathize with you, but there's nothing I can do about it…That's the only kind of white man I can hire to be a policeman, nothing I can do about it. Go on home and forget about it.” And I'll never--I never forgot that.”
Learning to navigate the world, he went to school and learned valuable lessons that made him determined in everything he did:
“I remember the strict discipline of the nuns who taught us at St. Elizabeth, and it was--I, I think a very beneficial experience in that, while I never became a Roman Catholic, I did appreciate the, the discipline that was taught at the school, a discipline of study, the discipline related to behavior and, and attitude and all that sort of thing, I, I enjoyed that very much. I got a lot of whippings…But soon, I learned to deal with that and to become more disciplined and improve my behavior and thereby avoid the whippings. As I went back to that school in later years, I had a pretty good record. They gave grades in numbers, and my numbers were ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, and I was very proud of my, my academic achievement in, at St. Elizabeth.”
MLK, Joseph Lowery, and Wyatt Tee Walker
The education and experience he had touched his heart and lead him to his purpose:
“I became interested in the social aspect of the gospel. I became active in the NAACP Youth chapters and so forth…I would work with youth activities related to not only church activities, but civic activities. And it just kept nagging on me that the gospel that I became interested in couldn't…reconcile…with the life in the South…the segregation and the separation and the discrimination and the abuse I had seen…So from the very beginning, my interest and attraction to the gospel was related to civic matters and social conditions. I had a tough time reconciling the fact God loved all his children and God created us all equal. The Constitution talked about equality and this sort of thing I couldn't reconcile that. So from the beginning I had an interest in the gospel from the holistic perspective… Not only to make heaven your home, but making your home here heavenly.”
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery (second from left) leading a civil rights and antiwar march in Atlanta in 1970.
So he began to do exactly that. Conquering fear and aggression, nonviolence became the cure to inequality in laws, like bus segregation. For Dr. Lowery, it took one peaceful act to calm a racist attack,
“When we rode the buses the first day,...we got on the first cross seat on the bus…And then a white fellow got on the bus after about five minutes with a sack, obviously, a bottle in the sack. And he sat on the side seat right behind the driver…After a block or so, he looked, and he told the driver, says, "Make 'em move back." And the driver said, "I'll drive, you ride." And he said, "Well, by God, if you don't make 'em move back, I will." So he got up with this sack and this bottle in his hand, and I felt Reverend McCree reach in his pocket, I, I nudged him, cause you're not supposed to have any weapons…But then we put into practice what we had rehearsed in the, in the workshops we'd had, nonviolent workshops. We take the initiative…So I stood up, and I said, "Sir, please sit down." I said, "it's dangerous to stand up when the bus is moving. I'm gonna sit down, you should sit down; said, we mean you no harm. I'm sure you don't mean us any harm. Sit down and be comfortable." And to our surprise, he sat down…And that was the end of segregation on the buses in Mobile. They never enforced it after that.”
Joseph Lowery had a long civil justice journey, taking part in a multitude of projects to further the black agenda. He is an asset to black history and a motivation to continue the existing legacy. Complete equality will be achieved - one day this fight will be over. But until then, we shall appreciate and honor those who’ve come before - all those who have touched the hearts of many. Sonjia Young remembers setting up a tribute for Joseph Lowery:
“Dr. Lowery, who is a phenomenal person; I mean, at eighty-five he is so funny and so bright and witty, and I was thinking maybe that's the key to a long life (laughter). It certainly seemed to work for him.”
Mr. Lowery laughing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Greenville, N.C., in 1995.
The great Tyrone Brooks deeply believed in the magnificence of Joseph Lowery as well:
“I'm going to nominate Dr. Joseph Lowery…He'll be eighty-two years old soon, and I think he deserves it [a Nobel Peace Prize]. He still works, carrying out that mission that he and Dr. King and Dr. [Ralph] Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth and C.K. [Charles Kenzie] Steele and T.J. Jimmerson and all those great warriors. That mission and that work that they started in 1955, '57 [1957] and on now, he carries on that legacy. I mean he's the dean of the [Civil Rights] Movement today. And, and I just think we ought to give people their flowers while they can smell them, give them their roses now because once they leave us, we can't do anything for them. Only God can take care of them once we--they leave us.”
President Barrack Obama awarded Dr. Lowery Nobel Peace Prize August 12, 2009.
We honor him today, for he is our reminder to stand united and nonviolent during all trials and tribulations. Reflecting his peacekeeping ways, Dr. Lowery always said that he wanted the world to stand together and work for a common goal. He says:
"Let's turn to each other and not on each other".
So let us walk in his wisdom, and continue the legacy.
Joseph Lowery dies at age 98 on March 27, 2020 in Atlanta, GA.
Search Terms:
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Joseph Lowery childhood on the home tab: 4 stories
Martin Luther, Joseph Lowery on the home tab: 61 stories
AMBASSADOR UPDATE:
Hello! I started my blog Wednesday, January 18, 2023 and I am finishing it Thursday, January 19, 2023. This was an inspiring blog to write; it allowed me to feel good about how far we’ve come as a nation and optimistic towards what's to come. As far as outreach, it has been an extremely busy few weeks. I have been reaching out to a multitude of faculty and students to spread the word and gain some ground. The HistoryMaker Digital Archive Black HistoryMonth Contest has officially gone live on Prairie View grounds and social media, so advertising is at an all time high.
Sources:
Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery (The HistoryMakers A2003.185), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 13, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 2, Joseph Lowery's favorites.
Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery (The HistoryMakers A2003.185), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 13, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 1, Joseph Lowery describes his childhood memories.
Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery (The HistoryMakers A2003.185), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 13, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 3, Joseph Lowery describes his Civil Rights efforts in Mobile, Alabama.
Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery (The HistoryMakers A2003.185), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 13, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 3, Joseph Lowery shares memories from his school life.
Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery (The HistoryMakers A2003.185), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 13, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 6, Joseph Lowery recalls being called to the ministry.
Sonjia W. Young (The HistoryMakers A2006.117), interviewed by Larry Crowe, October 13, 2006, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 1, Sonjia W. Young recalls Joseph Lowery's tribute roast.
The Honorable Tyrone Brooks (The HistoryMakers A2003.099), interviewed by Larry Crowe, May 6, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 6, Tyrone Brooks discusses nominating Dr. Joseph Lowery for a Nobel Peace Prize.
