Who is Dr Joseph Lowery? Bio, Wiki, Age, Wife, Death, Net Worth

Dr Joseph Lowery Wiki – Wikipedia

Dr Joseph Lowery was a pioneer of the Civil Rights movement and recipient of the Medal of Honor under President Barack Obama has died on 27 March at his home. He was 98. He was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr Joseph Lowery Bio – Biography

Joseph Lowery was born on 6 October 1921 in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. He went on to study at Knoxville College, Payne College, and Theological Seminary. He earned his doctorate of divinity from the Chicago Ecumenical Insitute.

In the 1950s, Lowery moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he was the pastor of Warren Street Methodist Church, and the head of the Alabama Civic Affairs Association, whose goal was to desegregate the bus system and public areas. Alabama then sued Lowery, along with numerous other ministers, on charges of libel and seized his property.

Quick Facts

Personal:
Birthdate: October 6, 1921

Birthplace: Huntsville, Alabama

Birth name: Joseph Echols Lowery

Father: LeRoy Lowery, store owner

Mother: Dora (Fackler) Lowery, teacher

Marriage: Evelyn (Gibson) Lowery (April 5, 1948-September 26, 2013, her death)

Children: with Evelyn Lowery: Yvonne, Karen, Cheryl; with name unavailable publicly: Joseph Jr.; LeRoy II

Education: Attended Alabama A&M University and Knoxville College; Payne College & Theological Seminary, B.A., B.D.; Chicago Ecumenical Institute, D.D., 1950

Other Facts:
A founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Is sometimes referred to as the “dean of the civil rights movement.”

Continued to lead marches and boycotts against racism in the South after Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.

Brought the SCLC into the political fray after Andrew Young was forced to resign as UN ambassador for meeting with PLO member Zehdi Labib Terzi in 1979.

Spent over two decades as a board member for MARTA, the public transportation system of Atlanta.

Timeline:
1950 – Is ordained a Methodist minister.

1952-1961 – Pastor of Mobile, Alabama’s Warren Street United Methodist Church.

1955 – Begins organizing for the civil rights movement in Mobile, Alabama.

1957 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is founded.

1957-1967 – Is named vice-president of the SCLC. Dr King is president.

1964-1968 – Pastor at St. Paul’s Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

1967-1977 – National Chairman and member of the board of directors SCLC.

February 1977-January 15, 1998 – National President and CEO of SCLC.

August 20, 1979 – With a delegation of SCLC members, meets with Zehdi Labib Terzi, the PLO’s chief observer at the United Nations.

February 5-18, 1982 – Organizes the longest civil rights march. More than 3,500 supporters march from Carrollton, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, demanding the extension of the voting rights act.

1986-1992 – Pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

1997-present – President Emeritus SCLC.

1997 – Receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP.

2001 – Clark Atlanta University establishes the Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights.

October 6, 2001 – An Atlanta street is renamed Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard in his honour.

February 7, 2006 – Makes controversial remarks during Coretta Scott King’s funeral: “She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew, and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance, poverty abound. For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.”

January 20, 2009 – Gives the benediction at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

August 12, 2009 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony.

January 30, 2010 – Is taken to Emory University Hospital Midtown after having respiratory problems.

February 13, 2010 – Is discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.

February 13, 2011 – Delivers a sermon at Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta for the first time since suffering a stroke in 2010.

December 7, 2014 – Suffers a fractured hip after a fall at a California hotel.

Career

In 1957, he became the vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr Martin Luther King Jr. served as its president. Dr Lowery later served as the SCLC’s president from 1977 to 1997.

With Dr King’s encouragement, He was a lead participant in the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, a 54-mile marching protest in defiance of segregation, and pushing for African-American citizens to be given the right to vote. The first march, which took place on March 7, 1965, led to what’s famously known as Bloody Sunday, in which police attacked the unarmed protestors with clubs and tear gas.

Tonight, the great Reverend Joseph E. Lowery transitioned from earth to eternity. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was a champion for civil rights, a challenger of injustice, a dear friend to the King family.

Thank you, sir.

[?: MLK, Lowery, Wyatt Tee Walker] pic.twitter.com/PGHpBJJjNm

— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) March 28, 2020

After the second march led to the death of civil rights activist James Reeb, President Lyndon Johnson announced that the administration started working on a voting rights law.

The third march took place on March 21, toward Montgomery, Alabama, with nearly 25,000 citizens continuing to protest for the right to vote. On August 6, 1965, The Voting Rights Act was signed into law.

Dr Joseph Wife and Children

He was married to wife Evelyn Gibson Lowery from 1950 until her death in 2013. Her wife was a civil rights activist and leader in her own right. Together they had three daughters, Yvonne Kennedy, Karen Lowery, and Cheryl Lowery-Osborne. He is survived by his children and 12 grandchildren.

Awards & Honores

Created in 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia, The Civil Rights Walk of Fame was built as a memorial to “those whose contributions were testaments to the fact that human progress is neither automatic or inevitable,” founder Xernona Clayton said.

In addition to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2009, Dr. Joseph Lowery was honoured with the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institutes, along with honorary doctorates from Emory University, Alabama State University, Morehouse College, and more. The Reverend was also the recipient of an NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr Joseph Obama’s Inaugural Benediction

When Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, Dr Josephy Lowery was there to deliver the benediction. He started his speech from lines of what’s known as “The Negro National Anthem,” written by James Weldon Johnson, for what’s officially titled, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Dr Lowery said, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who hast by thy might led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, o God, and true to our native land. We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day.”

Cause of Death

Dr Joseph Lowery died on 27 March 2020 at his home. A cause of death was not immediately given, but he passed after a brief illness on Friday night in Atlanta, Georgia.

In to old age, he beat prostate cancer and when asked how he was doing, according to WBS-TV 2, he would always say, “I’m just an old man doing youngs things. I am tired but happy.”

After seeing so many of his closest loved one pass on, King Jr. at age 39, and his beloved wife Evelyn, who was a civil rights activist her own right, Lower said, “I’m grateful I’ve lived to see so many things that come to pass, that I never dreamed I would live to see.

Joseph Lowery quote

His favourite quote was: “Let’s turn to each other and not on each other.”