I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7820 

To establish the John Lewis Election Day holiday on November 3, 2020, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2020 

Mrs. BEATTY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To establish the John Lewis Election Day holiday on 

November 3, 2020, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressman John R. 

5 Lewis Election Day Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) John Robert Lewis was born on February 

9 21, 1940, near Troy, Alabama, the son of share10 croppers in the segregated South. 


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1 (2) Lewis was ordained as a Baptist minister 

2 after graduating from the American Baptist Theo3 logical Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and re4 ceived a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy 

5 from Fisk University. 

6 (3) As a student, Lewis learned nonviolent civil 

7 disobedience from the Reverend James Lawson and 

8 participated in the Nashville Student Movement, or9 ganizing sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and 

10 participating in other civil rights events. 

11 (4) Lewis was one of the original 13 Freedom 

12 Riders, who traveled through southern states in 

13 1961 to pressure the enforcement of the Boynton v. 

14 Virginia Supreme Court case that declared seg15 regated interstate bus travel unconstitutional. 

16 (5) As a Freedom Rider, Lewis was— 

17 (A) assaulted while attempting to enter a 

18 Whites-only waiting room in Rock Hill, South 

19 Carolina; 

20 (B) on a bus that was fire-bombed by the 

21 Ku Klux Klan outside Anniston, Alabama; 

22 (C) among the Freedom Riders beaten 

23 with bats, pipes, and chains in Birmingham, 

24 Alabama; 


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1 (D) hit in the head and left bleeding and 

2 unconscious outside a Greyhound bus station in 

3 Montgomery, Alabama; and 

4 (E) imprisoned several times and spent a 

5 month in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. 

6 (6) Lewis was a founding member of the Stu7 dent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) 

8 and was elected its chair in 1963, serving until 

9 1966. 

10 (7) Lewis was the youngest of the ‘‘Big Six’’ 

11 leaders to organize the 1963 March on Washington 

12 for Jobs and Freedom and spoke to the crowd of 

13 over 200,000 from the steps of the Lincoln Memo14 rial. 

15 (8) During Lewis’s tenure as chair, the SNCC 

16 organized the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer 

17 campaign to register Black voters. 

18 (9) Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams 

19 led over 600 marchers over the Edmund Pettus 

20 Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The 

21 marchers were tear gassed and beaten by the Ala22 bama State Police. Lewis had his skull fractured by 

23 an Alabama State trooper’s nightstick. The day be24 came known as Bloody Sunday and inspired nationVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Aug 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7820.IH H7820

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1 wide support leading to the enactment of the Voting 

2 Rights Act of 1965. 

3 (10) Between 1960 and 1966, Lewis was ar4 rested 40 times as a nonviolent protestor for equal 

5 justice. 

6 (11) Lewis became the director of the Voter 

7 Education Project in 1970, which added millions of 

8 minority voters to the rolls during his tenure. 

9 (12) President Jimmy Carter appointed Lewis 

10 to direct ACTION, the Federal agency overseeing 

11 more than 250,000 volunteers, in 1977. 

12 (13) Lewis was first elected to the House of 

13 Representatives in 1986, representing Georgia’s 5th 

14 Congressional District. 

15 (14) During his 17 terms in the House of Rep16 resentatives, Lewis became known as the ‘‘Con17 science of the Congress,’’ and was a stalwart cham18 pion for equality and justice. 

19 (15) Among the numerous honors and awards 

20 bestowed on him, Lewis received the Presidential 

21 Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2010. 

22 (16) Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020, at 

23 the age of 80 and lay in state in the United States 

24 Capitol Rotunda. 


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1 (17) Lewis advised: ‘‘Do not get lost in a sea 

2 of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is 

3 not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a 

4 year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be 

5 afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, 

6 necessary trouble.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. JOHN LEWIS ELECTION DAY HOLIDAY. 

8 For purposes of any law relating to Federal employ9 ment, November 3, 2020, shall be a legal public holiday, 

10 to be known and designated as ‘‘John Lewis Election 

11 Day’’, described in section 6103 of title 5, United States 

12 Code. 

13 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING TREATMENT OF 

14 DAY BY PRIVATE EMPLOYERS. 

15 It is the sense of Congress that private employers in 

16 the United States should give their employees the day off 

17 on November 3, 2020, to enable the employees to cast 

18 votes in the elections held on that day and to honor the 

19 life and legacy of John Lewis. 

Æ 


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