Joseph Lowery Wiki – Biography
Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He later became the third president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, after Martin Luther King Jr. and his immediate successor, Ralph Abernathy, and participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
The American civil rights movement leader Joseph Lowery died on Friday at the age of 98, his family said.
Joseph Lowery Age
Joseph Lower was 98 years old. He was born on October 6, 1921 in Huntsville, Alabama, United States.
Wife
He married Evelyn Gibson in 1950, a civil rights activist and leader in her own right. She was the sister of the late Harry Gibson, an activist, and elder member of the Northern Illinois conference of the United Methodist Church, Chicago area. She died on September 26, 2013.
Children
They had three daughters: Yvonne Kennedy, Karen Lowery, and Cheryl Lowery-Osborne.and Lowery had two sons Leroy Lowery and Joesph Lowery Jr.
Career
A charismatic and fiery preacher, Lowery helped the Rev Martin Luther King Jr to fight against racial discrimination and led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for two decades – restoring its financial stability and pressuring businesses not to trade with South Africa’s apartheid-era regime. He retired in 1997.
Lowery, considered the dean of civil rights veterans, lived to celebrate a November 2008 milestone that few of his movement colleagues thought they would ever witness: the election of an African American president. At an emotional victory celebration for Barack Obama in Atlanta, Lowery said: “America tonight is in the process of being born again.”
An early and enthusiastic supporter of Obama over then-Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, Lowery also gave the benediction at Obama’s inauguration.
In 2009 Obama awarded Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US.
In another high-profile moment Lowery drew a standing ovation at the 2006 funeral of King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, when he criticised the war in Iraq, saying: “For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.” The comment drew head shakes from then-president George Bush and his father, the former president George HW Bush, who were seated behind the pulpit.
Lowery’s involvement in civil rights grew out of his Christian faith. He often preached that racial discrimination in housing, employment and health care was at odds with fundamental Christian values such as human worth and the brotherhood of man. “I’ve never felt your ministry should be totally devoted to making a heavenly home. I thought it should also be devoted to making your home here heavenly,” he once said.
Cause of Death
Rev Lowery was a founding member of the Christian Leadership Conference, where he worked alongside Dr King.
He spoke at the funeral of Dr King’s wife, Coretta, and at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Months later, Mr Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.
In a series of tweets, the King Center paid tribute to “the great” Rev Lowery, who it said had passed away on Friday: “We will miss you, Sir”.
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 Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@TheKingCenter) March 28, 2020
The American civil rights movement leader Joseph Lowery died on Friday at the age of 98, his family said.
The cause of death is not released.
Net Worth
Joseph net worth is being update.