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BREAKING: John Lewis, who went from being the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington to a long-serving congressman from Georgia and icon of the civil rights movement, has died. He was 80 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/17/john-lewis-obit-civil-rights-congress-036212
After years of putting his body and his freedom on the line as an activist, John Lewis spent more than three decades in Congress.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019. https://politi.co/3hbevgj
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019. https://politi.co/3hbevgj
John Lewis participated in key moments of the civil rights movement:
• Original Freedom Rider in 1961
• Principal speaker at the March on Washington in 1963
• Clubbed during a 1965 march in Selma
Through it all, he faced taunts, beatings and arrests.
https://politi.co/3hbevgj
• Original Freedom Rider in 1961
• Principal speaker at the March on Washington in 1963
• Clubbed during a 1965 march in Selma
Through it all, he faced taunts, beatings and arrests.
https://politi.co/3hbevgj
By his middle years, John Lewis was in Congress and sometimes referred to it as its “conscience.” Years later, he was a witness to the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African American president.
https://politi.co/3hbevgj
https://politi.co/3hbevgj
When Obama awarded John Lewis a Medal of Freedom in 2011, the president said that “Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind.” https://politi.co/3hbevgj
As a teen, John Lewis met both Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1957, he went to the American Baptist Theological Seminary where he met future civil rights leaders like Diane Nash, James Bevel, Jim Lawson, Bernard Lafayette and C.T. Vivian. https://politi.co/3hbevgj
John Lewis helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Here he is with the other “Big Six” leaders planning the March on Washington in July 1963. (Lewis is on the far left; MLK Jr. is third from the right.)
(
: AP)
https://politi.co/3hbevgj
(
: AP) https://politi.co/3hbevgj
March 7, 1965: “Bloody Sunday” in Selma. In this photo, John Lewis is being beaten by a state trooper. He suffered a fractured skull.
The footage of the beatings that day in Alabama pushed President Johnson to action on civil rights legislation. https://politi.co/3hbevgj
The footage of the beatings that day in Alabama pushed President Johnson to action on civil rights legislation. https://politi.co/3hbevgj
During his congressional career, John Lewis often led bipartisan delegations of lawmakers to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to reenact the Bloody Sunday march. Those members often came away vowing to work for a more equitable society.
Here's Lewis with then-Sen. Mike Dewine in 2004.
Here's Lewis with then-Sen. Mike Dewine in 2004.
As time passed, John Lewis came to be seen as the living embodiment of the civil rights movement.
More photos from his life and legacy: https://politi.co/3jdhF53
Full story: https://politi.co/3hbevgj
More photos from his life and legacy: https://politi.co/3jdhF53
Full story: https://politi.co/3hbevgj
