The body of Congressman John Lewis, a Georgia civil rights and political leader, began his six-day journey in a celebration of life on Saturday, with its first stops in Troy and Selma Alabama.
Lewis, 80, died on July 17 after a six-month battle with cancer.
This June 16, 2010 file photo, Representative John Lewis, D-Ga., Participates in a ceremony to unveil two plaques recognizing the contributions of enslaved African Americans to the construction of the United States Capitol on the Capitol of Washington. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster, file)
JOHN LEWIS MEMORIAL: FAMILY RELEASES DETAILS OF THE 6-DAY CELEBRATION OF HIS LIFE
His coffin, accompanied by a military honor guard, arrived wrapped in an American flag at the University of Troy before “A Service Celebrating ‘The Boy from Troy'” on Saturday.
Troy Mayor Jason Reeves applauded Lewis’s force in “confronting Alabama state police” during his time as an activist during the Civil Rights movement.
“And now Alabama state police officers will drive his body through this state as we celebrate his life,” said Reeves.
The coffin of the late Representative John Lewis, D-Ga., Arrives to rest at rest at Troy University on Saturday, July 25, 2020, in Troy, Ala. (AP Photo / Brynn Anderson)
The event, with speeches by five of her 10 brothers (her brothers, Henry “Grant”, Samuel and Freddie Lewis and her sisters, Rosa Mae and Ethel Mae Tyner) and a version of “Hero” by Sheila Jackson, paid tribute to Lewis’s story in the city that sparked his activism alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1958.
Over 60 years ago, Dr. King met with the 18-year-old “Trojan boy” who was hoping to attend an all-white university.
In this March 17, 1965 file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fourth from left, in the foreground, closes his arms with his aides as he leads a march of several thousand people toward the court in Montgomery , Alabama. From left are: an unidentified woman, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, James Foreman, King, Jesse Douglas Sr., and John Lewis. (AP Photo / File)
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The school, Troy University, is the campus to host the first of several procedures for Lewis beginning Saturday.
“He worked a lifetime to help others and make the world a better place to live,” said Grant Lewis in his tribute. He shared a memory of when Lewis swore to Congress, saying that during the poignant moment, Lewis looked at Grant and gave him the go-ahead during the ceremony.
Then Grant asked him, “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking this is a long way from the Alabama cotton fields,” Lewis replied.
Her young nephew gave laughter at the grim ceremony after uttering poignant words: “He depends on keeping his legacy alive” before jumping on stage.
Lewis grew up in Pike County, Alabama, and was an aspiring minister.
The son of sharecroppers, he worked with his brothers on his family’s land, tending the fields and animals. Young Lewis would preach to chickens to practice his trade.
“He came from a humble background, always humble and respectful,” said his sister Ethel Mae.
In 2011, the humble congressman received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama for his fight against racial discrimination.
In this Feb. 15, 2011, file photo, President Barack Obama presents a 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to U.S. Representative John Lewis, D-Ga., During a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster, file)
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has worsened in Lewis’s home state of Alabama, the family has requested that everyone wear a face mask to prevent mourners and bystanders from spreading the virus.
The seats in the university service were six feet apart to comply with the rules of social distancing.
“Get in trouble, necessary trouble”
Lewis’s death comes amid a national reckoning between law enforcement and their communities, as people across the country protest against racial injustice faced by black and Hispanic people.
As an activist, Lewis himself was arrested and imprisoned dozens of times and attacked during periods of civil unrest.
At a March event to mark the anniversary of the bloody police-protester disorder in 1965 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where Lewis and other protesters were beaten with sticks by state police, and their skulls were fractured, Lewis said: “Get in trouble, need trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”
In this July 20, 2020 photo, a church sign honoring the late American Representative John Lewis sits near his family’s land in Pike County, Alabama. A series of services will be held to remember Lewis, beginning July 25, 2020, in his home state of Alabama. (AP Photo / Kimberly Chandler)
The bridge will be another monumental stop on Sunday on Lewis’ trip before his body rests on the Alabama Capitol.
On Monday he will fly to Washington, DC, and his coffin will make several stops throughout the city, including at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument, near the National Mall. He will then remain in the state at the United States Capitol, with a public hearing.
A bust of the Martin Luther King, Jr., center is visible behind the catafalque for the chest of the late Representative John Lewis, D-Ga., In the center of the United States Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Friday, 24 July 2020., before he lies in state on Monday. Lewis, who led the fight against racial discrimination from the southern battlefields of the 1960s into the halls of Congress, died on Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)
The honor of sitting in the nation’s Capitol Rotunda has been awarded to more than 30 distinguished figures in United States history, including and most recently the late Senator John McCain and the late Representative Elijah Cummings.
Lewis will be transferred to Atlanta, where he will remain in the state at the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday, before his final internment on Thursday.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
