Civil Rights Hero Joseph E. Lowery Honored At Private Atlanta Funeral

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April 4th, 2020

The casket of the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery is moved Saturday by horse and carriage to Atlanta’s Westview Cemetery. Lowery, 98, who died March 27, was best known for helping Martin Luther King Jr. start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization that Lowery went on to lead for two decades.

John Bazemore, Pool / Associated PRess

Family of the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery gathered Saturday for a small, private funeral for the civil rights veteran who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and decades later delivered a prayer before 1.8 million at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

A horse-drawn caisson attended by men in black suits and top hats carried Lowery’s casket to Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, where about 10 family members attended a graveside service.

On Aug. 12, 2009, President Barack Obama presents a Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery at the White House.
On Aug. 12, 2009, President Barack Obama presents a Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery at the White House. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press file)

The procession first made stops at two churches where Lowery had served as pastor, as well as the nonprofit Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights that he founded in 2001.

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