John Lewis

Born in rural Alabama to a sharecropping family, John Lewis was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent philosophy and became one of the Civil Rights Movement's most courageous young leaders. As a teenager, he participated in sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters. At age 23, he was one of the Freedom Riders who traveled through the South to challenge segregation, enduring beatings and imprisonment. He spoke at the 1963 March on Washington at age 23 and led the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, where he was brutally beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what became known as Bloody Sunday. Despite the violence, Lewis remained nonviolent and continued his activism. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020, becoming a moral voice for justice, voting rights, and democracy.

John Lewis's legacy is his unwavering commitment to nonviolence, voting rights, and democracy. He became a symbol of moral courage and the American conscience. Even after brutal beatings, he refused to abandon his principles. His work in Congress focused on protecting voting rights and advancing racial justice. His autobiography and writings inspired millions. At his death in 2020, he was the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington and the last surviving member of the group known as the Big Six civil-rights leaders.