The late Representative John Lewis has been returned to Georgia after remaining in the state on Capitol Hill since Monday, where lawmakers and the public were able to pay their respects.
Lewis will rest at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, where residents can view his coffin.
The Lewis family and others gathered for an invitation-only memorial before the public sees it at the Rotunda. When the service ended, hundreds of people were lined up, stretching through the building and wrapping themselves outside.
Governor Brian Kemp spoke at the service, calling the late Georgia Democrat a “titan of the civil rights movement, a beloved Georgian, an American hero.” And a friend to all who saw a better and fairer society. “
MEN ARE SENT BY THE CIVIL RIGHTS ICON AND THE REP. JOHN LEWIS: “WE HAVE LOST A GIANT”
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Lewis “reminded us of hope, optimism, and never losing hope.”
Both Kemp and Bottoms spoke of the “good problems” that Lewis advocated, often in the face of strong resistance, that caused a broad-based shift during the civil rights movement.
The public will be able to pay their respects to Lewis from 3 pm to 7 pm Wednesday and again from 8 pm to 10 pm From 7 to 8 pm, the Lewis Phi Beta Sigma fraternity will perform a special rite for its deceased member on Capitol Hill. So will the Freemasons at Prince Hall.
Lewis’s body will remain on Capitol Hill until it is transported Thursday morning to Ebenezer Baptist Church for the 11am funeral. Presidents Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden will attend the funeral.
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The 33-year-old congressman died at age 80 last week after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Lewis was already an important civil rights figure when he came to the House in 1987: in 1961, he was one of the 13 original activists who participated in Freedom Rides and in 1963 he was one of the keynote speakers in the historic March on Washington. His death sparked a stream of bipartisan condolences.
