Honoring Rev. William "Bill" Lawson

Information about Reverend Bill Lawson

Houston a better place because Lawson answered God's call ...

Community leader, civil rights pioneer hailed as advocate for justice

Biography

Reverend William Lawson is a retired pastor and the namesake of an Institute focused on helping the community. He was born on June 28, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri to Walter and Clarisse Lawson. Raised in Kansas City, Kansas, Lawson attended Summer High School  Class of  1946 and graduated with his B.A. degree from Tennessee A and I state University in 1950. While at Central Baptist Theological Seminary he married Audrey Lawson. He then graduated in 1955 and received his Master of Theology and his Bachelor of Divinity degrees majoring in New Testament Interpretation while holding an appointment as a Teaching Fellow in Homiletics.

From 1960 to 1970, Lawson served as the director of the Baptist Student Union and a professor of Bible at Texas Southern University. While at Texas Southern University, Lawson helped build the first Afro-American Studies Program at the University of Houston and taught classes in sociology and the Black Church. His involvement with the Civil Rights Movement began when fourteen TSU students held a sit-in protesting segregation at a lunch counter. After founding the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, Lawson invited the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at his church in 1963. Lawson served as a pastor for over thirty years. In honor of his dedication to the community, the community created a non-profit organization called the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Through the organization, Lawson brought attention to the oldest African American cemetery in Houston, helped created The Main Street Coalition, and founded the WALIPP Preparatory Academy for boys. The Academy was the first charter school created for boys’ grades six through eight in the U.S. The Institute also houses a Seniors Residence for independent-living adults.

Lawson moved to Houston in 1960 to become director of the Baptist Student Union and professor of bible at Texas Southern University. He was propelled into the civil rights movement when 14 TSU students conducted a sit-in to protest segregation at a Weingarten’s supermarket lunch counter, a seminal moment in the movement’s local history. He and his wife, Audrey, took it upon themselves to raise money and bail the students out of jail. Lawson later played a critical role in secret meetings between white and black business leaders that led to a quietly arranged agreement opening the door for Houston’s peaceful integration.

Lawson founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in 1962 with only 13 members. A year later, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Houston, and according to Lawson, almost none of the city’s black churches welcomed the civil rights leader because FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had accused King of being a communist.

“He was not very popular, but we invited him to our church,” Lawson said.

Since then the church, like the city of Houston, has prospered. Its congregation has grown to more than 19,000 members. Lawson, who retired from Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in 2004, is now its founding pastor emeritus. He is also the author of “Lawson’s Leaves of Love: Daily Meditations,” offering a spiritual essay based on biblical passages for each day of the year.

In 1962 he founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at his invitation in 1963. As the pastor of the church for more than 30 years and as a professor at Texas Southern University, Reverend Lawson proved what is possible when people engage in the challenging work of building an inclusive community.  He is the retired founding pastor of the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.  His namesake organization, the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity, has advocated for disadvantaged people in Houston’s Third Ward, established two single-gender charter schools for boys and girls and built affordable housing for seniors. 

Lawson headed the Houston chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for over three decades. In 1968, he received his honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Howard Payne University and in 1993 he received his honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Houston. For his outstanding work with the Boy Scouts and his organization of the area’s largest scouting program, in 1991 Lawson was given the Silver Beaver Award. Lawson is also the author of Lawson’s Leaves of Love: Daily Meditations, published in 2004.

HOUSTON — Lawson has been one of the city’s most influential civic voices for more than half a century. He helped orchestrate the civil rights movement in Houston.  Rev. William Lawson, a man who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement, called for people marching in downtown Houston on Tuesday to continue to make their voices heard.

Rev. Lawson, second from right, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., middle.

You need to make noise,” Lawson said. “You’ve been quiet for a long time.”

Tens of thousands marched from Discovery Green to Houston City Hall to honor George Floyd and protest the injustice surrounding his death. George Floyd, a black Houston man, was killed May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck.

You need to make noise,” Lawson said. “You’ve been quiet for a long time.”

Tens of thousands marched from Discovery Green to Houston City Hall to honor George Floyd and protest the injustice surrounding his death. George Floyd, a black Houston man, was killed May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck.