After years of putting his body and his freedom on the line as an activist, he spent more than three decades in Congress.
John Lewis, who went from being the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington to a long-serving congressman from Georgia and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday. He was 80.
In December 2019, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Lewis was a committed participant in some of the key moments of the movement — an original Freedom Rider in 1961, a principal speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, one of those brutally clubbed during a 1965 march in Selma, Ala. Through it all, he faced taunts, beatings and dozens of arrests.
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Tributes poured in late Friday night from across the political spectrum, with Democrats and Republicans offering condolences on Lewis’ passing.
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BREAKING: John Lewis, who went from being the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington to a long-serving congressman from Georgia and icon of the civil rights movement, has died. He was 80 https://t.co/HHmysekyJ1
— POLITICO (@politico) July 18, 2020
As John Lewis's hometown paper, the @ajc covered his career extensively. Here is a #thread of articles published thus far as we mourn his passing.
More is to come. All of it is available here on our #JohnLewis page. https://t.co/K1YvsL1uf7— Tia Mitchell (@TIAreports) July 18, 2020
This November, Americans will have the opportunity to embody Lewis’ spirit, take up his mantle and carry on his enduring legacy by exercising their right to vote. pic.twitter.com/eJNwz9GFxi
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 19, 2020
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