Remembering John Lewis: A Force to be Reckoned With!

Writer: Alexandria Morgan

John Lewis vowed his life towards protecting the rights of the black community for over a decade of years. He has often been described as one of the “most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced.”

Being one of the many forefront leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, John Lewis was a force to be reckoned with. He dedicated his life to protecting the moral rights of the black community and continued to propel and challenge these standards until the day he died. He inspired others to confront challenging obstacles even if it meant exercising great risks to achieve those results. When we see John Lewis, we don’t see an ordinary black man, we see a black man who established a legacy for the black community that could never be torn down.

John Lewis was born outside the small town of Troy, Alabama, to sharecropper parents on February 21, 1940. As a child, the ongoing activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the persuading words of Dr. King inspired Lewis to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He ensured that his activism would propel the progression of social and human rights within the black community and that whites would see that this issue was a national struggle itself.

While attending Fisk University, Lewis participated in numerous lunch counter sit-ins and was a volunteer in one of the many Freedom Rides of 1961. Lewis pushed numerous boundaries by challenging state segregation laws and as a result, was beaten and arrested. Although he was challenged by these circumstances, Lewis continued to fight for the good of the black community.

While the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak, Lewis was named the Chairman of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) as he was a founding member of the group as well. By 1963, he was announced as one of the Big Six Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and was a keynote speaker at the March of Washington. In the following years, Lewis organized voter registration drives and community action protests; one of his most memorable peaceful protests was in 1965 when he and Hosea Williams led over 600 peaceful protesters over the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. This peaceful protest led to one of the most gruesome news stories known as “Bloody Sunday.”

After leaving the SNCC in 1966, he became the Associate Director of the Field Foundation and continued his fight for Civil Rights through his countless voter registration programs; he eventually became the Director of the Voter Education Project where he changed the political climate and added four million minorities to the voter rolls.

In addition, John Lewis directed more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, a federal volunteer agency under the appointment of President Carter. Following his appointment, he then served on the Atlanta City Council in 1981 where he continued his advocacy for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. He was elected to Congress in 1986 and he served as a U.S. Rep of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District.

Lewis earned a B.A in Religion and Philosophy and has received numerous accolades and honorary degrees including one from Harvard University. He married Lillian Miles in 1968 and has a son, John Miles. Lillian passed in 2012.

Despite 40 arrests and numerous beatings, John Lewis defied odds and triumphed in his goal for social progression. Lewis proved until his death that social equality is not a distant dream, it can be a manifestation when guided by the right people. In short, defy the odds because the toughest challenges have the greatest outcomes.