John Lewis

John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights leader. He was the U.S. Representative for  from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Lewis, who as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington.

 Early Life 
John Lewis was born in 1940 in Troy, Alabama to Eddie Lewis and Willie Mae Lewis (née Carter), who were sharecroppers in Pike County, Alabama.Stated on Finding Your Roots, PBS, March 25, 2012.Reporting Civil Rights: American Journalism 1963–1973, Part Two Carson, Clayborne, Garrow, David, Kovach, Polsgrove, Carol (Editorial Advisory Board), (Library of America: 2003) , pp. 15–16, 48, 56, 84, 323, 374, 384, 392, 491–94, 503, 505, 513, 556, 726, 751, 846, 873. Sharecroppers were people who were allowed to rent a part of a piece of land for return of a share of the crops they harvested. He was the third of ten children.

He experienced segregation as a young boy in the Southern United States. When he went to visit relatives in the Northern US, he learned that places there were integrated and served Black people and white people equally.

 Personal Life 
Lewis married Lilian Miles in 1968. They had a son, John-Miles. Lillian died on December 31, 2012.

Death
In December 2019, Lewis was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. He died in Atlanta, Georgia on July 17, 2020 from the disease, aged 80. His funeral was held at Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church

References

Other websites
 Congressman John Lewis  official U.S. House site
 John Lewis for Congress 

 SNCC Digital Gateway: John Lewis, Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing from the inside-out

 John Lewis debates the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) , June 11, 1996.
 Rep. Lewis on Congress, Gitmo, Afghan War and Charles Rangel – video interview by Democracy Now!, November 17, 2010


Category:1940 births
Category:2020 deaths
Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Category:United States representatives from Georgia
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:Politicians from Alabama
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:African-American politicians