Georgia’s John Lewis: A look back at his life, accomplishments

An activist since the early 1960s, John Lewis helped organize the lunch-counter sit-ins, marches and other peaceful anti-segregation demonstrations that eventually led to the passage of comprehensive civil rights legislation. He was recognized as one of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement, along with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Over the years, he has been beaten unconscious four times, arrested more than 40 times and led protests at what became known as “Blood Sunday” in Selma, Ala. He was born on a farm near Troy, Ala., on Feb. 21, 1940.

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RICK McKAY/Cox Washington Bureau

John Lewis was first elected to the U.S. House serving as representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District in 1986.

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John Lewis from the March on Washington, Lincoln Memorial Speech, Aug. 28, 1963:

“We are involved in a serious social revolution. But by and large American politics is dominated by politicians who build their career on immoral compromising and ally themselves with open forums of political, economic and social exploitation. … If we do not get meaningful legislation out of this Congress, the time will come when we will not confine our marching to Washington.”

*Note: the exact wording of this quote has been disputed by scholars, and the text may vary slightly depending on the source.

Timeline:

• 1963: Lewis serves as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee until the organization rejects his commitment to passive resistance in 1966.

• 1963: Lewis delivers the keynote address at the historic March on Washington, where King gave the historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

• 1970 to 1976: Lewis heads the Atlanta-based Voter Education Project. Under his leadership, the group added nearly 4 million minorities to the voter rolls.

• 1975: Lewis is honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize.

• 1977 to 1980: Jimmy Carter appoints Lewis as director of domestic operations for ACTION, the federal agency that oversees the Peace Corps and other antipoverty programs.

• 1981: He is elected to the Atlanta City Council, serving from 1982 to 1986.

• 1986: He is elected to the U.S. House serving as Democratic representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. He has been continuously re-elected to his congressional seat ever since.

• 1998: Lewis’ firsthand account of the civil rights movement, “Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement,” is published.

• 2004: Lewis sponsors a measure in the House that contained language allowing women to recover damages in cases of wage discrimination based on gender, putting it on the same legal footing as discrimination based on race or ethnicity. Efforts to make gender pay equity a civil right have repeatedly failed in Congress in recent years. He dubbed the proposal a successor to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Sources: AP, current biography, Facts on File