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The Rice Thresher
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by Elizabeth Decker Thresher staff About 300 people attended Rev. William Lawson's lecture about the life and influence of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Grand Hall of the Student Center Feb. 25. Lawson was the third speaker in this year's President's Lecture Series. History Associate Professor Edward Cox introduced Lawson to the audience, praising him for his commitment to social justice, his work toward inter-denominational cooperation and his role in the civil rights movement. Lawson, who came to Houston in 1955, has been a leader in many capacities. He founded and is pastor of the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. He pushed for desegregation in Houston-area schools and organized the largest Boy Scout troop in Houston. He also began a program to bring together churches of many denominations to help serve the poor. Most recently, he founded the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, in 1996. The crowd greeted Lawson with a standing ovation. Lawson credited his family and church for his successes. He said King also came from a good family and church and discussed King's work as it related to those influences. "It has become societal reflex to pay homage every January to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the further we move from the 13 pregnant years during which he gave stellar leadership to the civil rights movement, the more significant we see his life to be," Lawson said. "And the more we see him to be not simply a leader of black Americans, but a moral leader for all Americans, and of much of the world." "Those of us who were his contemporaries are forced to revisit our perspectives on this modern prophet, to adjust and modify our definitions of him as social activist, as advocate for the underclasses and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ," he said. Lawson examined the social and political milieu out of which King came, detailing how the black aristocracy in Atlanta helped shape him. King was born into a middle-class family in Atlanta. His father, originally named Michael Luther King, ran away from his parents to become a Baptist preacher. He dedicated himself both to his faith and to winning over Alberta Williams, the daughter of a prominent preacher in the town. The elder King married and began work as a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he was so popular that he increased membership of the church from 200 to 4,000 by the end of the Depression. Lawson said King's father visited the holy lands of Europe and the Middle East. His visit to Wittenberg, Germany, the home of Protestant reformer Martin Luther, left such a powerful impression on him that he changed his name to Martin Luther King. He also changed the name of his son from Michael Luther King Jr. to Martin Luther King Jr. "The change of name was probably one of the most important events in the life of the younger King," Lawson said. "For him, it would be the mark of great expectations, a statement of identity that honored traditions of both religion and race." Lawson said fellow black preachers, liberal theologians, Mohandas Gandhi and Jesus Christ were King's greatest influences. King grew up surrounded by Baptist preachers, and this made "for a strong example of religious leadership as a viable approach to life," Lawson said. "Dr. King was first and foremost a preacher, a prophet, a chieftain, in the old pattern of the black Baptist pastor," Lawson said. Through his work with the church, Lawson said, King began to address the problems of inequality and civil rights. At a Northern Baptist convention, King became "thoroughly entranced with the concepts of the social gospel and its notions of applying the teaching power of the pulpit to the pressing questions of public morality, of focusing the attention of the Christian church on the problems of poverty, ignorance and the oppression of the underclass," Lawson explained. King was also fascinated by the struggle for independence in India, and its leader, Gandhi, had an important influence on him. King adopted the movement's driving force, satyagraha, a type of passive resistance that helped lead to India's break from Great Britain. Lawson argued that the work of King could not be separated from "the little Indian mahatma and the concepts of satyagraha which used civil disobedience to protest oppression, but which used soul force rather than physical force." Of King's influences, Jesus Christ was the most powerful, Lawson said. King's work and life "are all expressions of his personal faith in Jesus Christ," Lawson said. In conclusion, Lawson expressed faith in King's work. "His dream is dated but is not obsolete. It is based on solid theological and constitutional principles, and it will be constantly updated as his philosophical descendants work to implement that dream. "You and I are blessed beyond measure to have lived in the same century with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Lawson concluded. In response to questions from the audience, Lawson theorized about what King might think about the balance of social justice today. He said he thinks King would be pleased with the progress that's been made. However, King would urge people to continue the struggle between poor and rich - regardless of race. Jones College junior Sue Wang said she would have liked to hear more from Lawson. "I enjoyed the lecture but I wished the Reverend Lawson had incorporated more of his personal experiences, and what is going on in Houston today, to see where MLK's legacy is today."
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