Remembering John Lewis

Here's a look at the life of US Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights leader.

Personal

Birth date: February 21, 1940

Birth place: Troy, Alabama

Birth name: John Robert Lewis

Father: Eddie Lewis, sharecropper

Mother: Willie Mae (Carter) Lewis

Marriage: Lillian Miles Lewis (December 21, 1968-December 31, 2012, her death)

Children: John Miles

Education: American Baptist Theological Seminary, B.A., 1961; Fisk University, B.A., 1967

Religion: Baptist

Others

Lewis' skull was fractured in 1965 during an attempted voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama.

By his own count, Lewis was arrested more than 40 times during his days of civil rights activis.

Timeline

1959-1960: Organizes student sit-in demonstrations in the Nashville area.

May 1961: Volunteers as a Freedom Rider, challenging bus and rail segregation laws. 

1963-1966: Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. 

August 28, 1963: Keynote speaker at the March on Washington.

March 7, 1965: Helps organize a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery and is among 600 demonstrators attacked by police. This day becomes known as Bloody Sunday.

March 21-25, 1965: Joins over 3,000 demonstrators marching from Selma to Montgomery, this time under the protection of federal troops. The size of the group reaches 25,000 by the time they reach Montgomery.

1966: Co-founds the Southern Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

1966-1967: Associate director of the Field Foundation.

1967-1970: Community organization director for the Southern Regional Council.

1970-1977: Director of the Voter Education Project.

1977-1980: Associate director of ACTION, a federal volunteer agency. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter.

1982-1986: Atlanta city council member.

1987-2020: Serves in the US House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th District.

1988: Lewis' memoir, "Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement," is published.

March 7, 2004: The John R. Lewis Monument is unveiled in Selma, Alabama, at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the events of Bloody Sunday.

April 27, 2009: Arrested outside the Embassy of Sudan, where he is protesting the obstruction of aid to refugees in Darfur.

February 15, 2011: President Barack Obama awards Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

August 2013: Top Shelf Productions publishes "March: Book One." The graphic novel is the first of a planned trilogy, written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell.

January 2015: Top Shelf Productions publishes "March: Book Two."

June 22, 2016: Lewis leads a sit-in on the House floor to protest inaction on gun control and try to push a vote preventing people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. The demonstration draws 170 lawmakers. After about 25 hours, Democrats decide to end the sit-in, but vow to continue when Congress returns for their next session.

August 2016: Top Shelf Productions publishes "March: Book Three."

January 13, 2017: In an interview with NBC News, Lewis says he does not view President-elect Donald Trump as a legitimate president due to evidence of Russian meddling during the run-up to the election. He says he will not attend the inauguration -- the second time he's boycotted an inauguration in protest. In 2001, he declined to attend the inauguration of George W. Bush, who won a close election after the Supreme Court halted a recount in Florida. Bush won the Electoral College even though Vice President Al Gore topped him in the popular vote.

January 14, 2017: Trump criticizes Lewis in a threaded tweet, "Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!" Lewis responds with a statement encouraging donors to pledge money to the Democratic National Committee, adding: "Today, Donald Trump attacked me on Twitter. He said that I'm 'all talk' and 'no action.' I've been beaten bloody, tear-gassed, fighting for what's right for America. I've marched at Selma with Dr. King. Sometimes that's what it takes to move our country in the right direction."

July 28, 2018: Becomes ill while on a flight to Atlanta. Spends one night in hospital for undisclosed reasons and is released the next day with a "clean bill of health," according to his spokeswoman.

December 29, 2019: In a statement, Lewis announces he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have issued a tribute to John Lewis, saying: "We have lost a giant."

Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, tweeted tonight on the passing of John Lewis:

The family of John Lewis has issued a statement on his passing:

Apple CEO Tim Cook called John Lewis an "American hero" in a tweet mourning his passing.

"John Lewis guided us toward a more righteous world. He marched in Selma, he marched on Washington—he marched for us all. His life's work shaped our history and his legacy inspires us to continue the march for racial equity and justice."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Bernice King mourned the passing of US Congressman John Lewis, writing on Twitter: “You did, indeed, fight the good fight and get into a lot of good trouble."

"You served God and humanity well," she posted. "Thank you. Take your rest."

Ted Cruz, US Senator for Texas, has posted a tribute to John Lewis on Twitter.

"Tonight, the world grieves for the great John Lewis. In my 1st yr in the Senate, I had the privilege of traveling w/ John & much of the Congressional Black Caucus to Nelson Mandela’s funeral. The entire trip to Johannesburg, John regaled us w/ stories of being alongside Dr. King."

Barack Obama presented John Lewis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, in February 2011.

The civil rights icon described the honor as “unreal.”

"Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind,” Obama said. “An American who knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other time; whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.”

Asked what it was like to receive such an award from the first African American president, Lewis said he felt blessed.

John Lewis became involved in the Civil Rights movement at 15 years old.

"I heard the words of Martin Luther King Jr. on our radio and I heard about Rosa Parks" he said in 2014. "It seemed like Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking directly to me, saying John Lewis, you too can do something. You can make a contribution."

He began organizing sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in the Nashville area in college while studying at Fisk University.

Lewis then participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961, protesting segregation at interstate bus terminals by sitting in seats reserved for white customers.

At 25, Lewis marched with King from Selma to Montgomery, and was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, where he was beaten by police and knocked unconscious.

Fifty years later, at an event to commemorate the incident, he spoke before President Barack Obama on the bridge, just feet away from where he was nearly killed.

"We must use this moment to recommit ourselves to do all we can to finish the work -- there's still work left to be done," he said.