The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a leader in America’s civil rights movement, died Friday.
According to CNN, Lowery’s death was confirmed by family representative Imara Canady, who said he died of natural causes.
Often called the “dean” of the civil rights movement, he worked hand in hand in the movement’s formative years with the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson.
He once said he missed Martin and other civil rights activists who had died before him. But he felt that God was keeping him for a single cause: To address the injustices of the criminal justice system, particularly toward poor black men.
In 1957, as racial tensions rose across the United States, Lowery helped start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference civil rights organization with King. Their work helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which President Lyndon Johnson signed.
Lowery died at the age of 98, but his legacy will forever live on.
