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Quick Facts
- NAME: Joseph Lowery
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Minister
- BIRTH DATE: October 06, 1921 (Age: 91)
- EDUCATION: Wayne State University, Knoxville College, Paine College, Chicago Ecumenical Institute
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Huntsville, Alabama
- AKA: Joseph E. Lowery
- Full Name: Joseph Echols Lowery
- ZODIAC SIGN: Libra
Best Known For
Civil rights leader, social activist and minister Joseph Lowery has fought against prejudice and discrimination against African-Americans for more than 50 years.
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Play NowJoseph Lowery. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:30, May 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388.
Joseph Lowery. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388 [Accessed 18 May 2013].
"Joseph Lowery." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 18 2013, 05:30 http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388.
"Joseph Lowery," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388 [accessed May 18, 2013].
"Joseph Lowery," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388 (accessed May 18, 2013).
Joseph Lowery [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388.
Joseph Lowery, http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388 (last visited May 18, 2013).
Joseph Lowery. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-lowery-11388. Accessed May 18, 2013.
In 1977, Lowery won the presidency of the SCLC over more radical factions. He helped revitalize the organization, bringing in new members and focusing on such pressing issues in the African-American community as police brutality and human rights.
Lowery changed churches in the mid-1980s, but he chose to remain in Atlanta. As the pastor of the Cascade United Methodist Church,
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he helped increase the size of the congregation and improve its financial situation. Lowery remained politically and socially active, campaigning against South Africa's practice of apartheid.
Even after his retirement in 1992, Lowery continued to fight against social injustice and for the rights of others. He led an effort to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Georgia state flag and helped the city of Atlanta prepare for 1996 Olympics.
In recent years, Lowery received a lot of media attention for his role in the inauguration of Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, in 2009. Obama selected Lowery to deliver the benediction at the event. In his speech, Lowery called for the president and the rest of the nation "to work for that day ... when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream."
Lowery has received numerous accolades for his work, including Ebony magazine's Black Achievement Award. Clark Atlanta University established the Joseph E. Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights in his honor. Lowery and his wife Evelyn have three adult children, Yvonne, Karen and Cheryl.
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View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the United States. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Activists outisde of the U.S. include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who have fought against apartheid in South Africa. Learn more about the many black activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
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