Black History Month Spotlight: John Lewis

John Lewis was a civil rights activist, by 1963 he was dubbed as one of the “Big Six” of the Civil Rights Movement, alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout his activism he was arrested 40 times, and endured various serious injuries.

John Lewis was born February 21, 1940 to sharecroppers from Alabama, and attended segregated public schools growing up. Even as a young student, John Lewis was organizing sit-in demonstrations in Nashville, and in 1961 particpated in the Freedom Rides. A founder and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee from 1963-1966, he was also one of the primary organizers and speakers at the March on Washington in 1963, at only age 23.

He gave a speech at the March on Washington, pleading, “I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete.” “We must say: ‘Wake Up America! Wake up!’ For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient. (28 August 1963)

In 1965 he helped lead 600 marchers in Selma, Alabama now known as “Bloody Sunday”, which played a huge part leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 being passed. Lewis eventually became the Director of the Voter Education Project, helping approximately 4 million disenfranchised people register to vote. He was then awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Price in 1975.

In 1986, John Lewis was elected to Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District. He served in this position up to his death in 2020, serving in the House of Representitives for 17 consecutive terms, and holding the position of House Democratic Senior Chief Depouty Whip. He was considered and dubbed the “conscience of Congress” and President Obama spoke at his funeral, that Lewis “embodied that most American of ideas- that idea that any of us oridinary people, without rank or weath or title or fame, can somehow point out the imperfections of this nation and come together and challenge the status quo..”