The James Lawson Center
Robert Proudfoot
Issue date: 11/30/05 Section: editor's picks
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
What should the building be called, if the name of the building is a misleading misnomer? Michael Ward, the founder of the Student Life Center petition, and Robert Proudfoot, Versus Magazine Editor, suggest renaming the building the James Lawson Center. Rev. James Lawson was a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s that was expelled from Vanderbilt for teaching nonviolent protest methods to the Nashville student population. By naming the current building the James Lawson Center, the university could make a bold statement about its future by honoring one former member of the Vanderbilt community who has fought for positive change in the world. Rev. Lawson's life has been as compelling as it is turbulent, especially during the process that ended in his expulsion from Vanderbilt in 1960.
1928 - Born in Uniontown, PA
1951 - Serves 13 months in prison for being a conscientious objector and refusing to report for the draft.
1953 - Travels to India to the Hislop College to be a coach and missionary five years after Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. The Gandhian concept of non-violent resistance, satyagraha, still had followers although they was scattered.
1956 February 5 - Lawson meets Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Oberlin before a speech. While waiting, King urges Lawson to work in the South, "Come now. Don't wait. We don't have anyone like you in the South."
1959 Spring - Lawson, through the Fellowship of Reconciliation, initiates and leads workshops to teach nonviolence to Nashville students.
1959 November 28 - Nashville students have first test 'sit-ins' at Harvey's Department Store using knowledge and non-violent strategies taught by Lawson.
1959 December 5 - Second test sit-in at Cain-Sloans Department Store.
1960 February 27th - Nashville police arrest 78 black students and 3 white students for non-violently 'sitting in' a downtown store. While sitting at the counters, students are hit, have cigarette butts ground into their backs, have food dumped on them and are verbally abused.