Rate My Professor James Lawson

Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. is a distinguished lecturer at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), contributing to Social Science through his longstanding affiliation with the Civil Discourse and Social Change (CDSC) initiative since 2010. He earned his B.A. from Baldwin Wallace College in 1952 and has focused his academic career on the theories and practices of nonviolent activism. Lawson teaches an upper-level course in the Department of Communication Studies on nonviolent struggles, civil rights, and social change, exploring the history, philosophy, and methods of nonviolence in relation to contemporary pursuits of equity and justice. As CSUN's Spring 2023 Distinguished Scholar, he has engaged the campus community through public lectures, including the 2023 presentation 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?', which emphasized building community as an alternative to violence and pulling people together through respect and service rather than division.

Lawson's career history reflects a lifelong commitment to nonviolent social change. Born in Pennsylvania in 1928 to a family of Methodist ministers, he received his local preacher's license in 1947 and was influenced by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, leading to his study of Gandhi's nonviolent teachings. After refusing the Korean War draft and serving time in prison, he worked as a campus minister and teacher at Hislop College in Nagpur, India, from 1952 to 1955. Returning to the United States, Lawson began conducting seminars in 1957 to train volunteers in Gandhian tactics of nonviolent direct action. He coordinated key civil rights efforts, including the Freedom Rides in 1961, the Meredith March in 1966, and the Memphis sanitation workers' strike in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. described him as the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence. From 1974, Lawson pastored Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles for nearly 30 years, advocating for labor rights, immigrant rights, and against war. His impact at CSUN includes mentoring students and leading workshops on social justice activism. Lawson received an honorary doctorate from CSUN in 2016 and the NAACP Chairman’s Award in 2021.