© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Reverend James Lawson and Northern Iowa Negro Spiritual

The Reverend James Lawson spent 14 months in prison after declaring himself a conscious objector and refusing to report for the draft in 1951. He later went to India to study the principles of nonviolent resistance from Ghandi. He met Martin Luther King Jr. and worked with him until King's death. Lawson is in Iowa City this week to discuss King and the human rights movement. Then a conversation with Celeste Bembry of the University of Northern Iowa's College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Bembery discusses UNI's School of Music concert focusing on the negro spiritual genre.

Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River