The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries join the entire Vanderbilt community in the excitement of today’s announcement about the new James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements. As the archival home of the James M. Lawson, Jr. Papers and the James M. Lawson, Jr. Photograph Collection, Special Collections and University Archives looks forward to supporting this initiative.
Examples from the collection include photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and The Reverend James M. Lawson, Jr. who worked together to establish the Non-Violent Movement within the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The Nashville Sit-Ins were a powerful non-violent action and witness that de-segregated lunch counters in downtown Nashville in 1960, and laid the foundation for the Freedom Rides. The activists were guided by the principles of the Nashville Non-Violent Movement Statement of Purpose and were trained by James Lawson in rooms of the First Baptist Church pastored by The Reverend Kelly Miller Smith.
For more information, please contact Special Collections and University Archives.