John Lewis, a pioneer of the civil rights movement and a veteran member of the United States House of Representatives, died Friday.
Lewis, a member of Congress from Atlanta who announced in December that he had advanced pancreatic cancer, was 80 years old.
“He loved this country so much that he risked his life and blood so that he could fulfill his promise,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement.
“And through the decades, not only did he give himself entirely to the cause of freedom and justice, but he inspired the generations that followed to try to live up to his example.”
Former United States President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a joint statement: “We have lost a giant. John Lewis gave everything he had to redeem America’s broken promise of equality and justice for all, and creating a place for us. ” to build a more perfect union together. “
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Lewis was a “titan of the civil rights movement whose kindness, faith and bravery transformed our nation.”
“In Congress, John Lewis was revered and loved on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the Capitol. We are all honored to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and his death moved us,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Rest in heavenly peace Mr. John Lewis. Thank you for your service, for your commitment to change and your courage. You did great with your time on this earth. “Good evening, sweet Prince. May the angels’ flights sing to the rest.” And … pour some blessings on us here 🙏🏿❤️ pic.twitter.com/9ZBSnLYmMa
– Viola Davis (@violadavis) July 18, 2020
Civil rights pioneer
Lewis was a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr, whom he met after writing to him when Lewis was just 18 years old. He was the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, having been with King when he did his “I have a dream” speech.
Two years later, Lewis nearly died while leading hundreds of protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on a peace march to Montgomery when state police officers, seeking to intimidate protesters for the voting rights of African Americans attacked protesters.
Lewis suffered a skull fracture on the day that would become known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Fifty years later, in 2015, he crossed the bridge on the arm of Obama, the nation’s first black president, to mark the anniversary of Selma’s march to Montgomery.
Lewis first entered Congress in 1986 and quickly became a moral authority figure, with Pelosi labeling him “the conscience of Congress.”
Lewis continued to fight for civil rights and human rights until the end of his life, inspiring others with calls to make a Good Trouble documentary.
He made his last public appearance in June, when protests for racial justice swept across the United States and the world.
With a cane, he walked with Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on a street next to the White House that Bowser had just renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza, which he had just dedicated with a large yellow mural, large enough to be seen from space, reading “Black Lives Matter”.
What a day … now, John Lewis. Sometimes it is good to meet a hero … I was blessed every time we met. RI POWER, sir. # Thestrugglecontinues # BLM # VOTE
– Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) July 18, 2020
Tributes
Tributes began to quickly arrive from other politicians.
“John Lewis was an icon who fought with every ounce of his being to advance the civil rights cause of all Americans,” Senator Kamala Harris, the first African American to represent California in the Senate, said on Twitter. “I am devastated by his family, friends, staff and all those whose lives he touched.”
US Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter: “John Lewis was a true American hero and our nation’s moral compass. May his courage and conviction live on in all of us as we continue to cause trouble for justice and opportunity.”
“Our conscience was a riot in this modern era, one that saw its hatred but always fought for the light,” said Stacey Abrams, a Democratic activist and founder of Fair Fight, a voting rights group in Lewis’s home state of Georgia. “And she never bothered to share her beauty. I loved her and will miss her.”
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