Joseph Lowery was born on October 6, 1921 in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. He was married to Evelyn Lowery. He died on March 27, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
He graduated from Paine College in Georgia with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He was a journalist in the black press for awhile, but soon decided to become a minister. He attended Paine Theological Seminary and served his first pastorate in Birmingham, Alabama.
He was a Methodist minister and civil rights leader who was one of the co-founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was elected president of the group in 1977, and served in that capacity for 20 years.
Father owned a small business and his mother was a part-time school teacher.
Delivered the benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.