Boyhood Home of Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery

Location: 226 Church Street NW

The career of the Rev. Joseph Lowery  illustrates that Huntsville’s Reconstruction era leaders birthed those who would lead the Civil Rights movement. Born during the Reconstruction era, Rev. Lowery’s parents, Dora and Leroy Lowery, were prominent leaders in the Huntsville community. Leroy Lowery was a board member of the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company of Chicago, one of the few Black-owned insurance firms in the nation. A teacher, Dora Lowery was also one of the six Black Huntsville women who registered to vote in 1920.  President Barack Obama awarded Rev. Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Photo: Lowery and Obama

Caption: President Barack Obama awards Rev. Joseph Lowery  the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August 2009. Along with  Rev. Martin Luther King, Lowery founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 and served as president of the organization for twenty years. Rev. Lowery was the son of Dora Lowery, one of the six Black women who registered to vote in 1920.