Jesse Lawson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jesse Lawson
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Lawson at the Washington Conference on the Race Problem in the United States in 1903
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| Born | May 18, 1856 Nanjemoy, Maryland, U.S.
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| Died | November 8, 1927 (aged 71) Washington, D.C., U.S.
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| Education | Howard University (B.A.) Howard University School of Law (B.L.) (M.A.) |
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| Known for | Political activism, co-founding Frelinghuysen University |
| Political party | Republican |
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| Children | Four |
Jesse Lawson (born May 18, 1856 – died November 8, 1927) was an important American lawyer, teacher, and activist. He worked hard to fight for fairness and equal rights for African Americans.
Lawson was a leader in the Afro-American Council. This group worked to end unfair laws, like the Jim Crow laws, which separated people by race. He spoke to the public and to the U.S. Congress about these issues.
He also started the National Sociological Society. With his wife, Rosetta Lawson, he helped create Frelinghuysen University. This university helped Black adults get an education. Jesse Lawson earned a Master of Arts degree from Howard University School of Law. For 44 years, he worked as a legal examiner for the Bureau of Pensions.
Lawson was a member of the Republican Party. He helped John Mercer Langston win his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Lawson was also the editor of The Colored American newspaper. He wrote many articles about political topics.
Contents
Early Life and School
Jesse Lawson was born in Nanjemoy, Maryland, on May 18, 1856. His parents were Jesse and Charlotte Lawson. When he was young, his parents passed away. He then moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, with Commodore W. M. McGough, who helped him with his schooling.
Lawson went to Howard University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881. He even gave the first speech at his graduation ceremony. After that, Lawson studied at Howard University School of Law. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1884 and a Master of Arts degree in 1885.
Later, from 1901 to 1905, he attended special talks about social issues. These talks were at the University of Pennsylvania. He was part of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
In 1884, Lawson married Rosetta Lawson in Washington, D.C.. She was also a teacher and an activist. They stayed married until his death in 1927. They had four children: one daughter and three sons.
Jesse Lawson's Career
After finishing his first degree at Howard University in 1882, Jesse Lawson started working. He became a legal examiner at the Bureau of Pensions. He held this job for 44 years, until he retired in May 1926.
During this time, he also worked as an editor. From 1895 to 1897, he edited The Colored American. This was an important African-American newspaper in Washington, D.C.
In 1889, Lawson became a lawyer for John Mercer Langston. Langston had lost an election for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1888. Lawson helped Langston challenge the results. Langston eventually won his case and took his seat in Congress in 1890.
Teaching and Frelinghuysen University
Lawson's teaching career began at the Second Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. There, he gave talks about sociology, which is the study of how people live in groups. In 1906, he became the president and a professor at the Bible College and Institute for Civic and Social Betterment. He also gave sociology lectures at other places in Washington, D.C.
In 1906, Lawson and his wife started a branch of the Bible Educational Association. Later, Lawson helped create the Inter-Denominational Bible College, where he became president. In 1917, these two schools joined together. They formed Frelinghuysen University. Lawson became the head of this new university.
Frelinghuysen University was special because it focused on working Black adults. It helped them continue their education even if they couldn't meet the rules of regular schools. The tuition was very low, and classes were often held in people's homes. The very first classes were taught in Lawson's own home. Lawson was the president of the university for 21 years.
Fighting for Rights
Jesse Lawson was a member of the Republican Party. He was chosen as a delegate for the 1884 Republican National Convention.
He was also a leader in the Afro-American Council (AAC). He worked with Daniel Alexander Payne Murray to show the public and Congress the problems African Americans faced. These problems included social, political, and economic unfairness. They wanted Congress to understand how being prevented from voting, called disenfranchisement, affected African Americans.
In 1902, a bill was proposed to create the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission. This group would study the lives of African Americans and find ways to improve race relations. Lawson and Murray spoke to Congress to support this bill. Even though the bill did not pass, Lawson continued to support other laws that promoted racial justice and fought against Jim Crow laws. He worked to make Congress focus on the issue of disenfranchisement.
Lawson also wrote several books and articles about political issues. Some of his works include How to Solve the Race Problem and The Ethics of the Labor Problem.
Helping the Community
In 1895, Jesse Lawson was the president of the board of commissioners for the District of Columbia at the Cotton States and International Exposition. This event showed off the skills and progress of African Americans since slavery ended.
He was also the vice president of the National Emancipation Commemorative Society. This group, started in 1909, organized celebrations to honor the Emancipation Proclamation. This important document declared many enslaved people free.
Lawson strongly supported the temperance movement. This movement worked to reduce or stop the use of alcohol. He gave public talks about how important it was for African Americans to have the right to vote, get an education, and grow morally and socially.
National Sociological Society
In the early 1900s, Lawson started the National Sociological Society. He served as its vice president. The main goal of this society was to study "the race problem" in America. They gathered information about race relations to share with the public and with Congress.
Anyone with good character could join the society by paying a fee. There were at least 164 members, including both African Americans and white people, from different states.
The society held one big meeting in 1903. This meeting was in response to Booker T. Washington's call for a national conference on race relations. The conference brought together African Americans and white people. They had important discussions about race relations.
In 1904, Lawson edited and published a book about the conference. It was called How to Solve the Race Problem: The Proceedings of the Washington Conference on the Race Problem in the United States. Lawson wrote that everyone at the conference agreed on some basic ideas. They believed that separating people by race or sending them away was not a good solution. They also had strong faith in the ideas of human rights found in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. However, beyond these points, there was not much agreement on how to solve the problems.
Later Life and Legacy
Jesse Lawson passed away on November 8, 1927, at the age of 71. He died at Freedmen's Hospital and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
A writer named Michael R. Hill said that Jesse Lawson and his wife, Rosetta, "dedicated their lives to race betterment." This means they spent their lives working to improve the lives and standing of African Americans.
Images for kids
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Lawson at the Washington Conference on the Race Problem in the United States in 1903
