Joseph E LoweryJoseph E. Lowery, a minister in the United Methodist Church, is an activist in the American civil rights movement. He served as the third president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1978-1998, after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and is immediate successor, Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, and participated in most of the major activities of the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the '60s. In addition to speaking at Coretta Scott King s funeral and giving the benediction at President Barack Obama s inauguration, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery is most recently noted for winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His numerous other awards include: the NAACP award at its 1997 convention for dean of the civil rights movement, and Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the Martin Luther King Jr. Center Peace Award and the National Urban League s Whitney M. Young, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Ebony has named him one of the 15 greatest black Read More Read Less