Dawson was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1898 as the first of five children, a farmer's son, and grandson and great-grandson of African-American slaves. One of his earliest childhood memories, he later said, was watching a 17-year old black being lynched after being "accused of impregnating a white girl." A job at a saw mill, supporting a large family, kept him out of World War I after his employer convinced him to sign an X on a paper he could not read, which he later surmised must have made some claim that he was ineligible for military service. After turning 21, he traveled extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico; in 1928, after nine years of travel and work, he returned to find his family had moved away, leaving no clue as to their new home: "I wondered why they hadn’t let me know. Then again, how would they have found me? Even if they’d known where I was, I wouldn’t have been able to read their letter."

He married Elzenia, a literate woman, and they moved to Dallas, where Dawson began to work for the city in road repair, and went on to have seven children, helping them all with their homework despite not knowing how to read. In 1938, he took a job with a dairy, where he worked until his retirement at age 79.

When Dawson was around age 90, a man was making door-to-door visits on behalf of a local adult education/|adult basic education program . Dawson overcame his initial reluctance to reveal his illiteracy, telling himself, "All your life you’ve wanted to read. Maybe this is why you’re still around." On first meeting instructor Carl Henry, a retired teacher, he learned that the oldest student to that time had been a woman in her fifties. Dawson learned to read and even went on to study for his GED at age 103. He died on July 5, 2001, after suffering a stroke.

His autobiography, Life Is So Good"(co-written with Richard Glaubman), was published in 2000 and received attention in the national media. He appeared on Oprah and told his story in the June, 2001, issue of the inspirational magazine Guideposts.

Dawson was posthumously honored when the Carroll Independent School District named a middle school after him in Southlake.