HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF

JOHN ROBERT LEWIS

CONGRESSMAN Rep. Lewis served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district for 17 terms from 1987 - 2020. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. The district he represented includes the northern three-quarters of Atlanta. He was a leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1991 as a Chief Deputy Whip and from 2003 as Senior Chief Deputy Whip. Lewis received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ACTIVIST Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. At 23, he was the youngest speaker that day. He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States. In 1965, Lewis led the Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, armed Alabama police attacked "I believe that you see unarmed civil rights demonstrators, including Lewis, Hosea Williams, and Amelia Boynton. something that you ROLE MODEL want to get done, you While promoting his civil rights graphic novel series March at cannot give up, and San Diego Comic Con in 2015, Representative John Lewis took the opportunity to cosplay as himself. He donned an you cannot give in." exact replica of what he wore during the historic 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma: tan trench coat, tie, and backpack. His backpack contained books, an apple, a toothbrush, and John Lewis toothpaste, just as it did back then, and he led a group of 1940 - 2020 school kids on a march around the convention center.