John Robert Lewis has died after a six-month battle with cancer, according to a statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Lewis is the son of sharecroppers.
He survived a brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama.
He became a figure of the civil rights movement and a longtime US congressman.
Lewis was a follower and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr. He participated in lunch counter sit-ins, joined the Freedom Riders in challenging segregated buses.
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