![\"Rev.](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/lawson-jun16.jpg\")
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In his hometown of Houston,\u00a0Rev. Bill Lawson is known as a legendary civil rights leader<\/a>. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s, and he has been a tireless advocate for the underserved for more than six decades. And for just as long, he has been a friend to Baylor University.<\/p>\n That relationship began in the 1950s, when\u00a0Lawson — then fresh out of seminary — came to speak\u00a0on the Baylor campus. A frequent speaker at Baptist Student Union events nationwide, Lawson was\u00a0invited to speak at Baylor Religious Hour<\/a> (BRH), a longstanding campus worship service, in October 1957 (see Lariat<\/em> coverage here<\/a>). After his speech, the students who invited him saw firsthand the reality for African-Americans in the South, as\u00a0the hotel booked for him would not allow him to stay there. Instead, Lawson spent the night\u00a0on a student’s couch. Despite such obstacles, however, Lawson returned to speak at Baylor many times in the following years, developing a love for the university\u00a0and its mission.<\/p>\n Lawson\u00a0was young and relatively unknown when he first visited Baylor, but his move to Houston three years later\u00a0positioned him for leadership throughout the Civil Rights era and beyond. There, he became a professor and Baptist Student Union director at Texas Southern University, and he established Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church<\/a>\u00a0two years later. He never intended to become the city\u2019s preeminent civil rights leader, but through his leadership of voter registration drives and protests against segregation, he essentially launched the civil rights movement in Houston. He marched with Martin Luther King and was chosen by King to charter the city\u2019s Southern Christian Leadership chapter.<\/p>\n Through the years, Lawson has led initiatives to serve the homeless, fought for workers\u2019 rights and become a leading voice for justice in Houston. His church grew from a few people visiting in his home to more than 14,000 members, and it is widely recognized for its outreach in the city. In 1996, the community honored him through the establishment of the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity<\/a>, which eventually opened the Lawson Academy<\/a>, a middle school for inner city youth.<\/p>\n Today, Lawson’s connection to Baylor continues through his role\u00a0on the Board of Advocates<\/a> for Baylor’s\u00a0Diana R. Garland School of Social Work<\/a> (SSW). For social work\u00a0students and faculty, the opportunity to learn from Lawson — whether in visits and lectures, or in\u00a0his role on the board — is priceless, and his insights have helped shape SSW initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cHis legacy continues to open the eyes for a new generation,\u201d says\u00a0Dr. Jon Singletary, BA \u201993, dean of the school of social work.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s a man of deep gratitude and humility, and he\u2019s been a true gift to us. He\u2019s given of himself substantially, especially as we\u2019ve opened our Houston campus<\/a>, opening doors to connections there for our students. His love for Baylor and willingness to serve on our Board is absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Sic \u2019em, Rev. Bill Lawson!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his hometown of Houston,\u00a0Rev. Bill Lawson is known as a legendary civil rights leader. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s, and he has been a tireless advocate for the underserved for more than six decades. And for just as long, he has been a friend to Baylor University. That relationship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extraordinary-stories","category-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}