Lawmakers commemorated Representative John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia, on Monday afternoon when his coffin arrived at the United States Capitol building to stay in the state on the third of six days of programs honoring the civil rights icon. .
Lewis is the first African American to have the honor of lying in the state at the Capitol Rotunda.
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The deceased congressman was first transported from Montgomery, Ala., To the Andrews Joint Base in Maryland for a brief ceremony, before a caravan accompanied him to the Capitol, passing various landmarks along the way. The caravan stopped at various sites, including Black Lives Matter Plaza, where Lewis made his last public appearance.
A military honor guard escorted Lewis’s coffin down the steps to the east front and toward the Rotunda, before a ceremony that preceded his coffin in the state with words from Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and leader Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, Republican of Ky.
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Lewis will later be relocated to the East Front Steps, and will be seen by the public starting at 6 p.m. M. From Monday until 10 p.m. M. The public hearing will resume on Tuesday morning.
Pelosi, D-Calif., And McConnell, R-Ky., Have discouraged people from traveling to Washington for this week’s events. The Lewis family is also encouraging those who respect to wear face masks to protect themselves against the spread of the coronavirus.
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Celebrations in honor of Lewis began Saturday in his hometown of Troy, Alabama. On Sunday, a procession accompanied him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where he marched in support of voting rights in 1965.
After he is in the state on Capitol Hill, Lewis will be taken to the Georgia State Capitol, where he will remain in the state on Wednesday, before a funeral on Thursday.
