Joseph Lowery

Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and a prominent leader in the civil rights movement, co-founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957 and serving as its president from 1977 to 1997. Known as the 'Dean of the Civil Rights Movement,' he participated in major civil rights activities in the 1950s and 1960s, including desegregating buses in Mobile, Alabama, and continued advocating for issues like voter registration and human rights into the 21st century. In 2009, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.