Lewis, John, 1940 February 21-2020

LEWIS, John R., a Representative from Georgia; born in Troy, Pike County, Ala., February 21, 1940; attended Pike County Training School, Brundidge, Ala.; B.A., American Baptist Theological Seminary, Nashville, Tenn., 1961; B.A., Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., 1967; chairman, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1963-1966; director of ACTION, 1977-1980; community affairs director, National Consumer Co-op Bank, Atlanta, 1980-1986; member of the Atlanta, Ga., city council, 1982-1986; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundredth and to the sixteen succeeding Congresses, and served until his death (January 3, 1987-July 17, 2020); died on July 17, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia; lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, July 27-28, 2020.

<p>John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist and leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966.</p>

<p>Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States. In 1965, Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked the marchers, including Lewis.</p>

<p>A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to Congress in 1986 and served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district he represented included most of Atlanta. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. While in the House, Lewis was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party, serving from 1991 as a Chief Deputy Whip and from 2003 as a Senior Chief Deputy Whip. John Lewis received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.</p>

<p>Congressman John Lewis rose from abject poverty to become one of America’s leaders. He has been at the forefront of progressive social and political causes for more than forty years. Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, in Troy, Alabama to sharecroppers Eddie Lewis and Willie Mae Miles. Growing up, Lewis and his nine siblings worked regularly on his family’s farm, frequently in lieu of attending the county’s segregated schools.</p>

<p>Without his family’s knowledge, Lewis became involved in the civil rights movement as a student at the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, where he helped form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In February 1960, Lewis helped spark a successful sit-in movement at segregated lunch counters in Nashville on the heels of sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1961, Lewis volunteered to become a member of the Freedom Riders. Lewis risked his life and was beaten several times by white mobs for his participation.</p>

<p>Lewis served as chairman of SNCC from 1963 to 1966. As chairman, he was recognized as one of the “Big Six” of the civil rights movement (along with Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, Whitney Young, James Farmer, and Roy Wilkins) who met with President John F. Kennedy to discuss the planning of the March on Washington. In 1963, at the age of twenty-three, he was a keynote speaker at this historic event. In 1964, under the auspices of SNCC, Lewis helped coordinate and organize the successful Mississippi Freedom Summer.</p>