John Lewis

John Robert Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama on February 21, 1940. He grew up in an era of segregation and hated the unfairness of segregation. Hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons and news of the Montgomery bus boycott inspired Lewis to act for the changes he wanted to see. In 1957, he left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He was arrested during these demonstrations but Lewis was committed to the Civil Rights Movement and went on to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961. Freedom Riders challenged the segregated facilities they encountered at interstate bus terminals in the South. It was dangerous work that resulted in arrests and beatings for everyone involved.

In 1963, Lewis became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. That same year, as one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement (the “Big Six” included John Lewis, Whitney Young Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer Jr., and Roy Wilkins), he helped plan the March on Washington. In his speech, Lewis declared "We all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about."

After the March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. However, this did not make it easier for African Americans to vote in the South. To bring attention to this struggle, Lewis led a march from Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers were attacked by state troopers. Lewis was severely beaten and suffered a fractured skull. The violent attacks were recorded and spread throughout the country. The images were too powerful to ignore. The day became known as "Bloody Sunday," and it sped up the passage of Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Though he was devastated by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, Lewis continued his work to empower minorities. In 1970, he became director of the Voter Education Project (VEP). The VEP raised and distributed foundation funds to civil rights organizations for voter education and registration work in the southern United States from 1962 to 1968. The project was federally endorsed by President Kennedy. During Lewis’s tenure, the VEP helped to register millions of minority voters.

Lewis ran for office himself in 1981, winning a seat on the Atlanta City Council. In 1986, he was elected to the House of Representatives. Today, representing Georgia's 5th District, he is one of the most respected members of Congress. Since entering office, he has called for healthcare reform, measures to fight poverty, and improvements in education. Most importantly, he oversaw multiple renewals of the Voting Rights Act.

In the wake of the mass shooting that took place on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, Lewis led a sit-in comprised of approximately 40 Representatives on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 22nd in an attempt to bring attention and force Congress to address gun violence by taking definitive legislative action. “We have been too quiet for too long,” Lewis said. “There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.” The protest came just days after several measures including a bill regarding background checks and adding restrictions on the purchase of guns by people on the federal no-fly list, failed in the Senate.

Lewis has been encouraged by the progress that has occurred in his lifetime. After Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Lewis stated that, "When we were organizing voter-registration drives, going on the Freedom Rides, sitting in, coming here to Washington for the first time, getting arrested, going to jail, being beaten, I never thought; I never dreamed of the possibility that an African American would one day be elected president of the United States."

In addition to continuing his work in Congress, Lewis has reached out to a younger generation by helping to create a series of graphic novels about his work in the Civil Rights Movement. In 2016, he won the National Book Award for the third installment in the series “March: Book Three”, which marks the first time a graphic novel has received the honor. He accepted the award with an emotional acceptance speech. “Some of you know I grew up in rural Alabama, very poor, very few books in our home. I remember in 1956, when I was 16 years old, going to the public library to get library cards, and we were told the library was for whites only and not for coloreds. And to come here and receive this honor, it’s too much.”

John Lewis has also been honored with numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, and the sole John F. Kennedy "Profile in Courage Award" for Lifetime Achievement. In his acceptance speech, he stated “We must move our feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill. I hope and pray that we continue our daring drive to work toward the Beloved Community. It is still within our reach. Keep your eyes on the Prize.”