Congressman John Lewis—Life, Legacy, Scholarship

Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean (March 25, 1960)

The Nashville Sit-ins

John Lewis (right) was first arrested for participating in the Nashville sit-ins when he was a student at American Baptist Theological Seminary. He would go on to be arrested at least 45 times, primarily during the Civil Rights Movement and later as a Member of Congress.

 
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Danny Lyon (Aug. 28, 1963)

March on Washington

At 23 years of age, John Lewis—Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 250,000 people attended the March.

Watch the speech

Spider Martin (March 7, 1965 aka “Bloody Sunday”)

The Edmund Pettus Bridge (Bloody Sunday)

Alabama State Troopers gave John Lewis, Hosea Williams and the other Foot Soldiers in the Selma-to-Montgomery march a “two-minute warning” to disperse before violently attacking them with clubs, whips, tear gas and horses. John Lewis suffered a skull fracture that day.

 
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Robert Knudsen (Aug. 6, 1965)

The Voting Rights Act

President Lyndon B. Johnson was able to push through the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in part because of the television coverage of the events of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. He handed one of the ceremonial signing pens to John Lewis.

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Hugh Stovall / Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jan. 15, 1966)

Marching in Atlanta

Students from Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark College marched to the Georgia State Capitol. They were led by John Lewis (far right), the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (third from right), Coretta Scott King and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (second from left).

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The AUC Commemorates 60 Years since Launch of the Atlanta Student Movement

Sam Falk / The New York Times (May 29, 1967)

Community Organizing

John Lewis served as director of the Community Organization Project for the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta from 1967 to 1970 and the executive director of the Voter Education Project from 1970 to 1977. Under his leadership, the VEP added nearly four million minorities to the voter rolls.

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Emory University Archives

White House Staff Photographer (Dec. 3, 1979)

The Carter Administration

John Lewis served in the Carter Administration as the associate director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency that administered the Peace Corps, VISTA, Retired Senior Volunteer Program and the Foster Grandparent Program from 1977 to 1979.

Read President Carter’s Remarks from Rep. John Lewis’ funeral
From The Carter Center

Floyd Edwin Jillson / Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Oct. 11, 1982)

The Atlanta City Council

John Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1981 and served until 1986. While serving on the Council, he was an advocate for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. Andrew Young was Atlanta’s mayor during this time.

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AJC on Rep. John Lewis’s Tenure on the City Council

Linda Schaeffer / Associated Press (Sept. 3, 1986)

Congressional Victory

John Lewis, and his wife, Lillian Miles Lewis, led supporters from his campaign headquarters to a victory party after defeating Julian Bond in a runoff election for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District seat in Atlanta. He served in Congress from 1987 to 2020.

Learn More About His Early Days in Congress
Eric Johnson’s Recollections

Rich Addicks / Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Oct. 22, 2007)

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Rep. John Lewis was an unwavering supporter of peace, love and nonviolence. He met His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama during a public event in Centennial Park when the latter was on a three-day visit to Atlanta. His public talk was entitled, “Educating the Heart and Mind: A Path to Universal Responsibility.”

Watch Rep. John Lewis’s Welcome

Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press (Feb. 15, 2011)

The Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Barack Obama presented a 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rep. John Lewis during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in recognition of his lifetime commitment to civil rights, nonviolent protest, and social justice.

Rep. John Lewis, In His Own Words

Rep. John Yarmuth via Associated Press (June 22, 2016)

U.S. House of Representatives Sit-in

Rep. John Lewis continued his activism as a Member of Congress, helping lead a historic 25-hour sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives seeking a vote on gun control legislation in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting
in Orlando.

Rep. John Lewis, In His Own Words