Radio Facts: Lowery, who gave the benediction at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Obama in 2009. An ordained United Methodist minister, Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and other black ministers in 1957, to fight segregation across the U.S. South. He served for 20 years as its president before stepping down in 1998. He continued working for racial equality into his 90s. The Lowery Institute, now known as the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights, was founded in his honor in 2001 and he was a member of its board.
Below is the Benztown audio tribute to The Reverend Joseph Lowery, civil rights activist and ally of Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, who died of natural causes in Atlanta, GA, Friday, March 27th, at the age of 98. The Benztown audio tribute to the Reverend Joseph Lowery was produced by Tom Green, written by Bill Royal and voiced by Sean Andre.
