[1] Lomax attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia for two years, where he later claimed he was editor of the student newspaper and had graduated in 1942.

[2] Lomax was a supporter of several civil rights organizations, including the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

"[1] Lomax had received a $15,000 Esso Foundation grant and was writing a three-volume work about black history at the time of his death.

[1][16][17] On July 30, 1970, Lomax was returning to New York after completing a lecture tour on the West Coast when he died in a car accident along Interstate 40, 26 miles east of Santa Rosa, New Mexico.

[16] Witnesses reported that he was traveling at a high speed on the double-laned highway and lost control of his rented Ford station wagon while attempting to pass another motorist.

[16] An investigation by New Mexico State Police determined that Lomax was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from his car after it overturned three times.