Born in the Bronx, New York, he is the son of Ceil Parker Lawson, a housewife, and Murray Lawson, a retail hardware clerk.[citation needed] He had a sister, Lona Lawson Mirchin, who died in 2004.[citation needed] After teaching at various colleges and universities for forty years, he is now retired, works as an independent scholar, and shares a home in New Jersey with his wife Nancy A. Hewitt and their miniature poodle, Scooter (named after 1950s New York Yankees star and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto).[citation needed]
"Preserving the Second Reconstruction: Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, 1965-1975". Southern Studies. 22 (1). Spring 1983.
"Freedom Then, Freedom Now: The Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement," American Historical Review, 96 (April 1991): 456- 71.
Race and Reapportionment, 1962: The Case of Georgia Senate Redistricting, Journal of Policy History, 12(Summer, 2000): 1-28(co-author with Peyton McCrary).
Declaration of Steven F. Lawson, Ph.D. Case No.: 1:13-CV-861 From the case United States of America vs. The State Of North Carolina; The North Carolina State Board of Elections; and Kim W. Strach held in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina