Longtime South Los Angeles pastor and community leader, the Rev. James Lawson Jr., died Monday at age 95. Lawson was instrumental in the 1960s civil rights movement and worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. promoting unity and nonviolence.In January, South Los Angeles honored the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church with a stretch of Adams Boulevard dedicated as the 'Rev James Lawson Mile.
In February 1960, following lunch counter sit-ins initiated by students at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lawson and several local activists launched a similar protest in Nashville's downtown stores. More than 150 students were arrested before city leaders agreed to desegregate some lunch counters. Lawson was expelled from Vanderbilt in March 1960 because of his involvement with Nashville's desegregation movement.