The Work Is Now: Living the Legacy

WE DON'T JUST HONOR LEGACY. WE LIVE IT.

October 6, 2025, marked what would have been Dr. Joseph Echols Lowery’s 104th birthday. We could spend today remembering and reflecting from a distance, but that’s not what he taught us. He wasn’t about passive remembrance. He believed in ACTION.

Joseph Lowery spent his life doing the work:

Co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Ralph Abernathy, and others (1957)
Led the Selma-to-Montgomery delegation presenting demands to Governor George Wallace (1965)
Served as SCLC President for 20 transformative years (1977–1997)
Fought to end apartheid in South Africa
Delivered the benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Advocated for justice, voting rights, and human dignity into his 90s

He was called the “Dean of the Civil Rights Movement” and for good reason. But his legacy isn’t only what he did; it’s how he thought about the work.

HIS PHILOSOPHY: MAKING HEAVEN HERE, NOW

“I see the pastor’s role as not only helping people make heaven their home, but making their homes here heavenly, which means justice, enough to eat, adequate housing, and all of those good things.” — Joseph Lowery

Making heaven here. Making it now. Through work. Not someday, not in theory, not through hope alone , through WORK. That’s his legacy. And today, The Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights commits to continue living it.

THE WORK IS NOW
Our Year-Long Commitment

From October 6, 2025, to October 6, 2026, we’re asking you to help us in doing the work , not just talking about change, but making change happen. Not just remembering a hero, but becoming the heroes our communities need.

THE WORK IS:

TRAINING LEADERS
A national program where students develop and exhibit academic and leadership skills in the pursuit of advancing social justice causes by examining issues that disproportionately affect people of color across the United States. These students, or change agents, put learning into practice and work in small teams on a substantive, policy-oriented project. They also mentor and tutor "Rising Change Agents."

THE WORK: One student trained creates a lifetime of impact.

REGISTERING & EDUCATING VOTERS
Continuing his lifelong commitment to voting rights, we register voters and challenge barriers to democracy.

THE WORK: We register. We educate. We mobilize. We protect the vote.

ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY
Through Mimi’s Pantry, named for Evelyn Gibson Lowery, we ensure Atlanta University Center students don’t have to choose between buying food and buying books.

THE WORK: We feed students so they can focus on becoming the leaders we need.

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
We research and advocate for policies that advance equity, truth, and human rights.

THE WORK: We ground young people in facts, history, and the unshakable belief that democracy must protect us all.

YOUR DONATION BECOMES WORK
The work of justice can’t be measured in dollars alone. What we need are PARTNERS. BELIEVERS. PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND that legacy isn’t something preserved behind glass — it’s something we put into action every day.

WHY NOW?

If you knew my father, you know he loved to say, “I’m just an old man doing young things. I’m tired, but happy.” He was tired because the work never stops. He was happy because he never stopped working.

We’re tired too, tired of attacks on democracy, barriers to voting, and students going hungry. But like Joseph and Evelyn Lowery, we keep working. Because the alternative, giving up, going back, surrendering progress, is unacceptable.

THE WORK IS NOW. Not tomorrow. Not someday. NOW.

JOIN THE WORK

Choose your donation amount and become a partner in living the legacy of fighting for justice. From his birthday to his birthday — October 6, 2025, to October 6, 2026 — we will keep doing the work.

Will you work with us?

On behalf of our Change Agents, Scholar Activists, Staff, and Board of Directors,

Thank you,
Cheryl Lowery

The Work is Now!

THE WORK IS NOW

WE DON'T JUST HONOR LEGACY. WE LIVE IT.

Team Members