'Thankful for his leadership, guidance': Ellis celebrates pastor, civil rights activist Bill Lawson's 93rd birthday

Rev. Bill Lawson, a well-known pastor and civil rights leader, turned 93 last month, according to a report by ABC13.

Lawson, who celebrated his birthday on June 28, was married to the late Audrey Hoffman and is a father of four and grandfather of two.

"Happy 93rd Birthday to my dear friend Rev. Bill Lawson," Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis stated on Twitter. "From his civil rights work to founding @WheelerAvenueBC to showing up to marches in the last year, Rev. Lawson continues to fight for justice and freedom. Thankful for his leadership and guidance."

Lawson originally wanted to pursue a career as a cartoonist for Walt Disney. However, when a matte knife fell off a shelf and almost cut off his drawing hand, he took this as a sign to pursue a different career choice.

"I realize that God moves you in ways in which he wants you to go," Lawson stated during an interview with ABC13. "He even brought me from Kansas to Texas and to a university where students were just about to go into civil rights."

Instead, Lawson became Houston's pastor, moving to the frontline of the city's civil rights movement.

"When I first came I had some misgivings, but when I saw that little school with just one permanent building and a bunch Quonset huts that had been taken from Ellington Air Force base, I said this is where God wants me," he said.

As a Baptist Chaplain, Lawson was granted a house to reside in. According to Lawson, students would often gather in a room on the bottom floor of the house and it was at these gatherings that Lawson first heard about the sit-in protests being held by African American students.

During these protests, the students went into supermarkets and grocery shops and sat in areas exclusively reserved for white people. Lawson initially became involved in the civil rights movement by collecting money to assist those imprisoned during these protests get out of jail.

Later, he secretly met with city leaders at the Rice Hotel in 1960 to devise a plan to end segregation in the Bayou City. After this meeting, "White Only" signs were removed across Houston, shops welcomed black customers without hesitation, and hotels, restaurants and restrooms were no longer segregated by race. 

Lawson currently serves as the founding pastor emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where he has been a pastor for over 60 years, according to the church's official website.