Civil rights `dean’ Joseph Lowery turns 90

(RNS) One of the last living icons of America’s civil rights battles turned 90 Thursday (Oct. 6), and hundreds of relatives, friends and fans will celebrate with him on Sunday at Atlanta Symphony Hall. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, “the dean of the civil rights movement,” who worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King, will be […]

(RNS) One of the last living icons of America’s civil rights battles turned 90 Thursday (Oct. 6), and hundreds of relatives, friends and fans will celebrate with him on Sunday at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, “the dean of the civil rights movement,” who worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King, will be honored at a star-studded tribute featuring singers Stevie Wonder and Jennifer Holliday, actress Cicely Tyson and a host of veterans of the civil rights movement.

“I feel blessed that the Lord has let me live this long and enjoy all the blessings that I’ve enjoyed,” Lowery said from his home in Atlanta.


Lowery is part of the roster of civil rights icons who helped push the country past the days of segregated water fountains, poll taxes and widespread violence against African-Americans.

The death on Wednesday of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, 89, who helped organize the Freedom Rides that challenged segregation in the South, makes Lowery the oldest surviving leader of the nonviolent demonstrations of the 1950s and 1960s.

Lowery was a chief organizer of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965 that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act. He created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King, Shuttlesworth and Ralph Abernathy, who died in 1990.

“Working to help people is a joy, even though sometimes it was dangerous and heavy and treacherous,” Lowery said. “I thank God for the privilege.”

On Jan. 20, 2009, Lowery delivered the benediction at the inauguration of the nation’s first black president. Seven months later, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

(Melanie Eversley writes for USA Today.)

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