Longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Wood Lawson died in early September, just three months following the passing of her husband, CSUN lecturer and fellow civil rights activist, Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. She was 89.

Dorothy Lawson had a lifelong commitment to social justice and social change. She received numerous awards for her volunteer work with adult literacy, and in 2014, the CSUN Department of Gender and Women’s Studies honored Lawson with the Phenomenal Woman Award.

She was instrumental in pioneering the first racially integrated office in Nashville, and it was during her time in that office that she met her husband, James M. Lawson Jr. Together, the couple made civil rights history despite the danger and safety risks to themselves and their family. Dorothy Lawson took part in many of that era’s more famous boycotts and sit-ins, as Rev. Lawson became a close adviser and friend to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

During her life, Dorothy Lawson reflected, “Today, people don’t realize how dangerous the work for civil rights activists was during the turbulent 1960s in the South — and the fine line activists had to walk between standing up for their human rights and facing violence and even death.”

In 1974, the Lawson family moved from Tennessee to California. Dorothy Lawson completed her graduate work at Cal State L.A., taught school and became chairperson of the Inner-City Task Force. There, she created curriculum for the United Methodist Church and developed a model for recruiting and training teachers.

Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., who died in June at the age of 95, was a mainstay of the CSUN campus since 2010. He taught theories and practices of nonviolent activism as part of the Civil Discourse and Social Change (CDSC) initiative, an effort dedicated to promoting ideas of community involvement, as well as social and justice related activism. 

Dorothy Lawson remained a tireless humanitarian until the last months of her life — lobbying for reforms, boycotting, sitting in, and calling for better treatment for women and people of color. She remained an active member of Holman United Methodist Church, and she was active in her children’s and grandchildren’s lives. In August, Lawson became a proud Matador grandparent, as one of her grandsons started his freshman year at CSUN.

Marta Lopez-Garza, a longtime friend of the couple and CSUN professor emerita of gender and women’s studies and Chicana/o studies, paid tribute to Mrs. Lawson this past week and reflected on some of their conversations.

“That generation that was born and raised in the South — they experienced so much racism, but she had such a sense of her own value,” the professor said. “She would walk with it. She was so strong, yet kind, too. Dorothy Wood Lawson was truly a phenomenal woman.” 

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