Brad Lomax (born Bradford Clyde Lomax; September 13, 1950 – August 28, 1984) was a member of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

and a

disability rights The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...

activist who helped lead the

504 Sit-in The 504 Sit-in was a disability rights protest that began on April 5, 1977. People with disabilities and the disability community occupied federal buildings in the United States in order to push the issuance of long-delayed regulations regarding ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Early life and education

Lomax was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on September 13, 1950. His mother was Katie Lee (Bell) Lomax, and his father was Joseph Randolph Lomax. He had two siblings. He first became aware of racial segregation at age 13 during a visit to Alabama, where he saw signage for segregated public spaces. While he planned to join the military in 1968 after he graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School, African American soldiers received poorer treatment in the military during the Vietnam War, and he instead attended

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

. Lomax was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

the same year, and began using a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

. He used the wheelchair only when he did not have the strength to walk. The disease gave him up and down days of lack of control and little strength to phsyically walk. Despite having a wheelchair, he found that many public buildings lacked ramps, making them inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Activism

After helping found the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969, he continued to help organize the 1972 African Liberation Day demonstration on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

. He was also integral in starting the Washington D.C. Black Panther Party Free Health Clinic. Lomax was motivated to join the disability rights movement after attempting to use public transportation in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, after moving there in 1973. Since he used a

, boarding a bus required having his brother carry him from his wheelchair to a bus seat. He served as the public relations co-coordinator for the George Jackson Clinic in 1974. In 1975, He reached out to Ed Roberts, director of the Berkeley

Center for Independent Living Independent living (IL), as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at society and disability, and a worldwide movement of disabled people working for equal opportunities, self-determination, and self-respect. In the context o ...

(CIL) to propose another Center for Independent living

East Oakland East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest portio ...

, in partnership with the Black Panthers. The center operated for only two years, due to limited support from both the Berkeley CIL and the Black Panther Party. In 1977, he participated in the 504 Sit-in at the

San Francisco Federal Building The San Francisco Federal Building, formally the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, is an 18-story, building at 90 7th Street on the corner of Mission and 7th streets in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The fede ...

, and encouraged the Black Panthers to provide meals and other supplies to the protestors. The protest was in response to the failure of the

Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

(HEW) to implement

Section 504 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is United States, American legislation that guarantees certain rights to people with disabilities. It was one of the first U.S. federal civil rights laws offering protection for people with disabilities ...

of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 () is a United States federal law, codified at et seq. The principal sponsor of the bill was Rep. John Brademas (D-IN-3). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaces preexisting laws (collectively referred to as the V ...

. The HEW secretary,

Joseph A. Califano Jr. Joseph Anthony Califano Jr. (born May 15, 1931) is an American attorney, professor, and public servant. He is known for the roles he played in shaping welfare policies in the cabinets of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and for ser ...

, signed the regulations on April 28, 1977, after Lomax and approximately two dozen other protesters traveled to Washington.

Death and legacy

Lomax died August 28, 1984, in Sacramento, California, due to complications of multiple sclerosis. In 2020, he appeared in the American documentary ''

Crip Camp ''Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution'' is a 2020 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. Barack and Michelle Obama served as executive producers under their Higher Ground Productions ban ...

'' and was featured in ''The New York Times''' " Overlooked" obituary series in July.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomax, Brad 1950 births 1984 deaths 20th-century African-American people American disability rights activists American politicians with disabilities African-American activists Howard University alumni Activists from Philadelphia People with multiple sclerosis Wheelchair users American activists with disabilities