Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia and a civil rights icon, will remain in the state Monday at the Capitol Rotunda, the first black lawmaker to receive one of the highest American honors, before a public visit to the public.
With the Capitol closed to the public in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Lewis will spend just a few hours in the state under the Capitol dome after an invitation-only ceremony reserved exclusively for members of the legislature on Monday afternoon. About 80 lawmakers are expected to attend, according to a Capitol official.
Afterward, Mr. Lewis’s coffin will be moved outside onto the steps of the Capitol, and members of the public will be able to line up, with required masks and forced social distancing, to view it from the plaza below on Monday night and all day Tuesday. .
Among those who will pay their respects will be Vice President Mike Pence and Joseph R. Biden Jr., the alleged Democratic presidential candidate, according to their public hours. President Trump is not scheduled to attend.
Here is the calendar of events to honor Mr. Lewis.
Arrival ceremony: 1:30 pm Monday
There will be an invitation-only arrival ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.
The Rev. Grainger Browning Jr. of the Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, will make the invocation, followed by remarks by President Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and Majority Leader.
There will be a crown presentation by Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and Majority Leader; Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and minority leader; Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York and the minority leader; and Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina.
Vocal artist Wintley Phipps will sing the Christian hymns “Amazing Grace” and “It Is Well”.
Representative James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina and the majority scourge, will give the blessing.
Public viewing outside: 6 pm to 10 pm Monday
Instead of staying underneath the Capitol dome while members of the public pay tribute, as is traditional, Mr. Lewis’s coffin will be moved to the steps of the Capitol to allow for a more pandemic-friendly display. Members of the public may line up in a socially distanced way to see him lying in the state from the plaza below.
Even with health precautions, Mr. Lewis’s family discouraged people from traveling from out of town to Capitol Hill amid the pandemic, instead of asking for “virtual tributes” using the hashtags #BelovedCommunity or #HumanDignity.
Public viewing continues on Tuesday: 8 am to 10 pm
The public viewing of Mr. Lewis’s coffin will continue throughout Tuesday.
Lewis, a 17-term Georgia congressman and senior member of the Black Caucus of Congress, died on July 17 after battling pancreatic cancer.
He was known as the “Congressional Conscience” for his moral authority gained through years of protesting racial equality, even when he was brutally beaten during voting rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 and throughout southern Jim Crow. On Sunday, he made his last trip across the Edmund Pettus Bridge there, with his coffin carried by a horse-drawn crate to the same place where a state agent wielding a stick fractured his skull 55 years ago.
Last year, Representative Elijah E. Cummings became the first black legislator to lie in the state on Capitol Hill, although he was honored in the Statuary Hall, not the Rotunda, where presidents and other statesmen have been. The site is reserved for the nation’s most revered figures, including President George Bush and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Rosa Parks, the pioneer of civil rights, honored there in 2005, receiving the highest honor awarded to a private citizen.
