Background
Lowery was born in Memphis, Tennessee on February 16, 1925, and was the daughter of activists Review Doctor Harry and Evelyn Gibson. Her father served as president of the Memphis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and her mother was involved in community organizations.
Education
She attended Clark College and Youngstown University.
Career
They provided her with the inspiration that became the foundation for a lifetime of involvement in human rights at both the national and international levels. He is President Emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and worked alongside Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. during the American Civil Rights Movement. She also marched in the historic Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, and re-enacted the trip several times.
In 1979, seeing a special need for women and families, Lowery founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Women's Organizational Movement for Equality Now, Incorporated.
(WOMEN), the sister organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Through that organization she spearheaded education and mentoring programs, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Aids awareness initiatives and raised over $350,000 for scholarships for high school seniors.
Over the years, Lowery also took the lead in recognizing the contributions of fellow activists. She moved to develop coalitions and alliances with a variety of women"s groups throughout the nation and other parts of the world.
A partial list of awardees includes Rosa Parks, The Original Tuskegee Airmen, Review
Hosea Williams, Maya Angelou, Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Doctor Mae Jemison, Andrew Young, Review Jesse Jackson, Senior, and James Meredith. She was also responsible for the erection of the Civil Rights Freedom Wall in Perry County, Alabama, and monuments honoring movement icons such as Viola Liuzzo, John Lewis and Hosea Williams.
In 2004 Lowery was herself honored at the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Junior.
National Historic Site, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Lowery was hospitalized on September 18, 2013 after suffering a severe stroke.
She died September 26, 2013 at her home in Georgia. She was 88.