Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and others, serving as its vice president, later chairman of the board, and its third president from 1977 to 1997. Lowery participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued his civil rights work into the 21st century. He was called the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement."
Lowery in 2000
Lowery meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in 2011
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington
Image: 08 15 1964 20069 Martin Luther King (4086739403) grey Back
Image: Ralph Abernathy portrait by Robert Templeton
Image: Joseph Lowery 2000 (cropped)