HOUSTON – In the mid-50s, Rev. William ‘Bill’ Lawson came to the Houston area as a young 27-year-old man with his eyes set on servitude.
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Lawson made his way to the city to serve as the director of the Baptist Student Union at Texas Southern University.
While working as the director, he also took a role as the Chaplain at TSU where he said he was able to have a hand in the midst of a student community.
Rev. Lawson was a pivotal figure in the civil rights era, making a name for himself amongst notable other leaders such as John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, and his close friend, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. He was among those organizing Houston’s civil rights movement during the 60s when desegregation was a key goal.
“What we’re asking for is not something that would be politically correct or even politically controversial. We’re asking for something that is morally right,” he was quoted saying.
Lawson married the love of his life, his late wife Audrey, and made nearly 62 years of marriage before she passed away. Both of them raised their children in the city of Houston.
In their living room, a meeting of 13 people grew into the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church where he pastored for 42 years.
He said it was Audrey’s heart that led to his religious activism.
“I thought of that church as basically a church where we would preach the gospel, and Audrey was the person who said, ‘You’re in a neighborhood that’s in great need and you can’t just preach the gospel.’”
He did much more than preach. He invited Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to his pulpit at a time when other pastors would not. He said, “The Black preachers had been told ‘Don’t let this man in your pulpit. He’s a communist.’”
He dedicated his life to doing what was right for civil rights, voter registration, helping the homeless, the establishment of the William A. Lawson Institute of Peace and Prosperity, schools, and senior living apartments.
He was also part of a powerful trio of religious leaders in the city of Houston, including the late Rabbi Samuel Karff and the late Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, who were dubbed the Three Amigos.
When asked how he’d like his life to be remembered, Lawson said, “I don’t know. I simply hope I would have been faithful to what the gospel is, and the gospel speaks of feeding the poor and clothing the naked. And if I have been faithful to that, I’ll be glad to be perceived that way.”
According to the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, Reverend Bill Lawson’s body will lie in state from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, 2024. The Community Service of Celebration will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, 2024, and the Congregational Service of Celebration will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 24, 2024. Both services will be held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Avenue, Houston.