Before his death, Rev. William “Bill” Lawson spoke about how he wants to be remembered through his legacy

HOUSTON – In the mid-1950s, the Rev. William “Bill” Lawson arrived in the Houston area as a young man of 27, with his eyes set on bondage.

Lawson went to town to serve as director of the Baptist Student Union at Texas Southern University.

While working as a principal, he also took on the role of chaplain at TSU, where he said he was able to lend a helping hand amid a student community.

Reverend Lawson was a central figure in the civil rights era, making a name for himself among other notable leaders such as John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, and his close friend Reverend Martin Luther King. He was among those who organized the civil rights movement in Houston in the 1960s, when desegregation was a key goal.

“What we are asking for is not something that would be politically correct or even politically controversial. We are asking for something morally right,” he was quoted as saying.

Lawson married the love of his life, his late wife Audrey, and enjoyed nearly 62 years of marriage before her passing. Both raised their children in the city of Houston.

In their living room, a gathering of 13 people grew into Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where he served as pastor for 42 years.

He said it was Audrey’s heart that led him to his religious activism.

“I looked at this church as basically a church where we would preach the gospel, and Audrey was the person who said, ‘You’re in a high-need neighborhood and you can’t just preach the gospel.’”

He did much more than preach. He invited the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to his pulpit at a time when other pastors would not. He said: “Black preachers were told, ‘Don’t let this man into your pulpit. He’s a communist.’”

He dedicated his life to doing what was right for civil rights, voter registration, helping the homeless, establishing the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity, schools and apartments for the elderly.

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, nicknamed the Three Amigos.

When asked how he would like his life to be remembered, Lawson replied, “I don’t know. I just hope that I would have been faithful to what the Gospel is, and the Gospel is about feeding the poor and clothing the naked. And if I have been faithful to it, I will be happy to be perceived that way.

According to Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, the body of Rev. Bill Lawson will lie in state from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Community Celebration Service will be held Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The congregational celebration service will be held on Friday, May 23, 2024 at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 24, 2024. Both services will be held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Avenue, Houston.