Lawrence Thomas Guyot Jr. was born in Pass Christian, Mississippi, on July 17, 1939. He attended Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, MS. Guyot earned degrees in both chemistry and biology. While in college, he became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and traveled around the state conducting civil rights workshops and doing other organizing. Guyot was a vocal protester during the civil rights era beginning in the early 1960s. When Fannie Lou Hamer and two other activists were jailed in Winona, Mississippi for violating segregation laws when they sat in a train station reserved for whites, Guyot went to see that they be released. When Guyot asked why the trio had been mistreated, he was beaten and tortured for hours, and afterwards thrown into a cell. He was also jailed in the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman Farm).

He chaired the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The gains made by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party assisted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. By 1968, Mr. Guyot had full credentials to the national convention as a member of the Mississippi delegation.

Guyot attended Rutgers School of Law and, after graduating in 1971, moved to Washington, where he did legal work for city agencies and was an informal adviser to Mayor Marion Barry. Guyot was a program monitor for the D.C. Department of Human Services’ Office of Early Childhood Development. He spent the rest of his life in D.C. in both local and federal government positions. He fought for reform in the most underserved neighborhoods in D.C., including LeDroit Park. He was a supporter of Howard University as well.