The world lost another historical icon Friday when civil rights leader Rev. Joseph E. Lowery died in his Atlanta home. The 98-year-old was surrounded by his daughters when he drew his last breath, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) reported.
Tributes poured in from across the globe. One of them came from Atlanta-based entertainment mogul Tyler Perry.
“Dr. Lowery was a man that helped move this country to a better place. We should all be grateful for his incredible work through the civil rights movement all the way up until his passing. The man was amazing, loving, kind, funny, a truth teller and a healer,” Perry wrote on Instagram, along with a photo of then-President Barack Obama kneeling before Lowery in 2012.
Lowery’s family released an official statement expressing their gratitude.
“Our entire family is humbled and blessed by the overwhelming outpouring of love and support that has come from around the globe. We thank you for loving our father, Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, and for your continuous prayers during this time,” the statement read.
They asked people to make donations to The Joseph & Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights in lieu of flowers. They said they would have a private family service and noted a public memorial would be held once the COVID-19 coronavirus is no longer a threat.
Born in 1921 in Huntsville, Alabama, Lowery learned early that the world wasn’t fair. He recalled getting hit by a white police officer who called him a ni***r when he was 11 and leaving his father’s store.
“I went home and looked for my father’s pearl-handled .32. I got it and was gonna look for that cop,” Lowery told the AJC. Instead, he said his father came home and asked him why he was crying.
“I had never seen my father at home during the day, except on Sundays,” Lowery said. “I don’t know why he came home that day. But I am glad he did.”
The incident would be the catalyst for his life’s work.
With an innate desire to help improve the lives of others, Lowery spent his life fighting for “the least of these.” In addition to serving in a variety of roles at several churches, Lowery was one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most trusted soldiers in the fight against racism and oppression.
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Known as the “Dean of the Civil Rights Movement,” Lowery was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLS) in 1957. King served as the group’s president and Lowery its vice president.
After King was assassinated, Lowery moved to Atlanta and rose to prominence as one of America’s most prolific moral voices. He was known for his powerful preaching, courageous candor and indiscriminate manner of calling out injustice.
At Coretta Scott King’s funeral in 2006, Lowery famously decried the Iraq war and criticized then-President George Bush, while the president and his wife, Laura, sat directly behind him.
“We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew, and we knew, that there are weapons of misdirection right down here,” Lowery said. “Millions without health insurance, poverty abounds. For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.”
Lowery also didn’t spare his own when speaking truth to power. He criticized longtime friend and colleague Andrew Young for supporting Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential primary.
For Lowery, ministry and social justice were intertwined.
“I don’t distinguish between my ministry and SCLC. I see SCLC as the alter-ego of the church,” Lowery said in 1986, according to the AJC. “I consider human relations to be a religious question. … Human relations are based on our relations with God.”
Lowery was married to his wife Evelyn – with whom he had three daughters – for over 70 years before her death in 2013. He also had two sons from a prior marriage.
Lowery lived to receive a namesake street, a social justice center at Clark Atlanta University and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other honors and accolades.
According to fellow civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, he earned them all.
“Rev. Joseph Lowery was a fighter for Civil Rights. He spoke up, spoke out, he never gave up. He marched and protested all across America. We mourn his passing this evening,” Lewis said in a statement. “He made a lasting contribution and he will always be remembered for his role to help change and make our country and our world a better place. I had the great honor of serving on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference board with him. His presence and leadership will be deeply missed.”
When he turned 85 in 2006, Lowery expressed why he continued to fight against injustice.
“I can’t (retire) because Martin is gone. Ralph (Abernathy) is gone. Hosea (Williams) is gone,” he said at a roast marking his 85th birthday in 2006. “I’m still here. God kept me here because I have been speaking the truth. Because I stand up against war and racism.”
Now he can finally take his rest. Well done Rev. Lowery, well done.
