John Lewis (21 February 1940-17 July 2020) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-GA 5) from 3 January 1987 to 17 July 2020, succeeding Wyche Fowler and preceding Kwanza Hall. Lewis was a former leader of the SNCC group during the Civil Rights movement, serving as its chairman from 1963 to 1966, succeeding Charles McDew and preceding Stokely Carmichael.
Biography[]
John Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama on 21 February 1940, and he attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, taking part in sit-ins in the city while he was a young student. Lewis later took part in Freedom Rides, and he served as Chairman of SNCC in 1963 to 1966, leading student activists in support of the Civil Rights movement, and Lewis decided to break with the radical elements of SNCC to take part in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. Lewis and Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where they were attacked by state troopers, who used tear gas and night sticks against the demonstrators. After leaving SNCC in 1966, Lewis entered banking, and he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1986 after previously being defeated in the 1977 election. Lewis was re-elected 14 times, and he was seen as a hardcore liberal, comparing Donald Trump to George Wallace. He died of pancreatic cancer on 17 July 2020 at the age of 80.
Gallery[]
