Family members of the Rev. Joseph Lowery gathered Saturday in Atlanta for a small but moving funeral for the civil rights icon who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

Men in black suits and top hats attended a horse-drawn caisson carrying Lowery’s casket, the Associated Press reported.

The black wagon, with the driver holding reins in one hand and his hat in the other, made three stops — at two churches where Lowery had served as pastor and the nonprofit Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights, which he founded in 2001.

Lowery, 98, died Friday at home in Atlanta, surrounded by family members. He died from natural causes unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak, his family said.

Because of the rapid-spreading infection, only about 10 relatives attended the service, which fell on the 52nd anniversary of King’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

Lowery fought to end segregation alongside King and delivered the benediction at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

He was best known for helping King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization that Lowery went on to lead for two decades.

King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, once said Lowery “has led more marches and been in the trenches more than anyone since Martin.”

In 2009, Obama awarded Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

A public memorial service is planned for Oct. 6, which would have been Lowery’s 99th birthday.

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