John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon and Congressman, Dies at 80
John Lewis, the civil rights icon who played a key role in some of the most important battles of the era and went on to serve more than 30 years as a congressman representing Georgia, died Friday following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80.
Lewis was the last surviving member of the “Big Six,” the group of prominent Black civil rights leaders who helped organized the 1963 March on Washington. The others were Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young.
Born in Troy, Alabama in 1940 to parents who were sharecroppers, Lewis studied at the American Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk university. During his studies he became dedicated to the civil rights movement, organizing demonstrations to protest segregation throughout Nashville. Lewis was one of the original 13 freedom riders, the group of activists who risked their lives riding integrated buses through the segregated south, and he participated in the group’s first ride on May 4, 1961. He also
During this period, Lewis co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and would eventually become the group’s third chairman. It was in that role that he helped organize the 1963 march which, while most well known for King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, also featured multiple speeches including by Lewis, the event’s youngest speaker.
During the event, Lewis found himself at odds with the other organizers over the content of his speech, which in its original form called out the Kennedy administration for failing to take action to enforce and expand civil rights for Black people and opposing Kennedy’s proposed civil rights bill. However in the final version of his speech Lewis said instead that he supported the bill with “great reservation” and urged activists to “get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes.”
More to comes…
As news of his death became public, tributes poured in from peers and admirers.
John Lewis was a giant among men. A Civil Rights Icon, an indefatigable champion for justice, and a hell raiser known for making ‘good trouble.’
In mourning his passing, let us aspire to build the nation that Congressman Lewis believed it could be.
May he Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/sDJ169T9bE
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 18, 2020
The news hits deep. And to the core. John Lewis dead. Can it really be? He had strength, courage, and heart enough for many lifetimes. We were young once. So many memories. So much distance traveled. So much further to go. Farewell my friend. We shall overcome someday.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 18, 2020
Heartbroken by the news of John Lewis’ passing. I was honored to meet him several times and I was always struck that he was both a person of trememdous moral leadership and a caring, kind, compassionate man. The country has lost a man that made us all better. Rest in power.
— Neera -Wear a Mask -Tanden (@neeratanden) July 18, 2020
Devastating news: civil rights leader, Georgia congressman and American hero John Lewis has died. pic.twitter.com/5DbUT8TDQi
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 18, 2020
With Congresman John Lewis passing this evening our nation has lost a civil rights giant, one of the original freedom riders, and the only surviving speaker of the March On Washington where Dr. King gave his ‘I Have A Dream Speech’ pic.twitter.com/xgNzIOfljB
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) July 18, 2020
John Lewis was so committed to equal justice, and so wildly ahead of his time, that he delivered an impassioned speech in opposition to DOMA decrying its homophobia. In 1996! The man was a visionary. https://t.co/XwQWEcwhUc
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 18, 2020
