Rev. Joseph Lowery, Dean Of The Civil Rights, Dies At 98

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    JackPMiller
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    https://www.npr.org/2020/03/28/517545662/hold-hold-hold-rev-joseph-lowery-dean-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-age

    Rev. Joseph Lowery, ‘Dean’ Of The Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 98
    Debbie Elliott
    March 28, 20206:45 AM ET

    The Reverend Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, died Friday, according to a statement by the Joseph & Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights. He was 98 years old.

    The statement said Lowery died peacefully at home Friday night, surrounded by his daughters.

    Known affectionately as the “Dean” of the Civil Rights Movement, Lowery was a part of pivotal moments in the nation’s history – from early civil rights struggles to the inauguration of the country’s first black president. Even in his 90s, Lowery’s fervor never dimmed.

    At an appearance on the national mall in 2013, at the age of 91, he led the crowd in the chant “Fired Up? Ready to go?” The event marked 50 years since the 1963 March on Washington, which Lowery attended as a contemporary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. At that 50th anniversary appearance, he warned that hard-fought gains were under attack.

    “We ain’t going back,” he said. “We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely and died too young, to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.”

    Joseph Echols Lowery was born in Huntsville, Alabama in 1921. He was the son of a teacher and a shopkeeper. The young Lowery experienced firsthand the brutalities of the Jim Crow South and would spend his life fighting for racial justice.

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