John Lewis, the veteran Freedom Marcher and Civil Rights Campaigner, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.
He was born on 21 February 1940 in Troy, Alabama, where he had little contact with white folks. He became active in student politics and civil rights. John Lewis was a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee and went on to gain a bachelor's degree in Religion and Philosophy at Fisk University, also in Nashville. Fisk University, formerly the Fisk Free Colored School, was affiliated to the United Church of Christ. It is the oldest higher education institution in Nashville.
In 1960 John Lewis was involved in non-violent protests organized by the civil rights movement against segregation at lunch counters. Martin Luther King, who had inspired JL, spoke at Fisk in May 1960 in support of the civil rights movement (CRM). With Diane Nash, JL managed to lead the protests in desegregating lunch counters and forming the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Nashville sit-in movement. JL always preached and practised non-violence as the best way of protesting and campaigning against injustice, racism and intolerance.
In 1961 JL was one of the 13 original members of the Freedom Riders, black and white men, who went by public transport together, from Washington, DC, to New Orleans, Louisiana, against the segregation policies of transportation systems. JL was badly beaten by white assailants during the freedom rides and was imprisoned for 40 days in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for his activity as a freedom rider.
In April 1967 there were student protests at Fisk and Tennessee State University following Stokely Carmichael's visit to Vanderbilt University and subsequent police brutality. Many protestors and civil rights campaigners marched from Fisk to the Nashville courthouse to complain about police violence during an alleged "race riot". JL never condoned violence from any quarter.
To be continued.
Monday 20 July 2020
I note that many tributes, eulogies and words of praise have been recorded over the weekend. There have been historic photographs in the newspapers of John Lewis at the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965, when he was at the front with Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta King. It was at a civil rights voting march in Selma, also in 1965, that JL was clubbed by a state trooper when he was on his knees, down of the ground by the roadside! His non-violent protest is in stark contrast to the brutal action of the vicious state trooper.
JL was the youngest speaker at the famous Freedom March in Washington DC in 1963.
In the US House of Representatives he served for 33 years, representing a district in Georgia, from 1986 and was called "the conscience of the US Congress".
Today there is a campaign to rename the Selma Bridge, where he marched and often visited, after him.
He was born on 21 February 1940 in Troy, Alabama, where he had little contact with white folks. He became active in student politics and civil rights. John Lewis was a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee and went on to gain a bachelor's degree in Religion and Philosophy at Fisk University, also in Nashville. Fisk University, formerly the Fisk Free Colored School, was affiliated to the United Church of Christ. It is the oldest higher education institution in Nashville.
In 1960 John Lewis was involved in non-violent protests organized by the civil rights movement against segregation at lunch counters. Martin Luther King, who had inspired JL, spoke at Fisk in May 1960 in support of the civil rights movement (CRM). With Diane Nash, JL managed to lead the protests in desegregating lunch counters and forming the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Nashville sit-in movement. JL always preached and practised non-violence as the best way of protesting and campaigning against injustice, racism and intolerance.
In 1961 JL was one of the 13 original members of the Freedom Riders, black and white men, who went by public transport together, from Washington, DC, to New Orleans, Louisiana, against the segregation policies of transportation systems. JL was badly beaten by white assailants during the freedom rides and was imprisoned for 40 days in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for his activity as a freedom rider.
In April 1967 there were student protests at Fisk and Tennessee State University following Stokely Carmichael's visit to Vanderbilt University and subsequent police brutality. Many protestors and civil rights campaigners marched from Fisk to the Nashville courthouse to complain about police violence during an alleged "race riot". JL never condoned violence from any quarter.
To be continued.
Monday 20 July 2020
I note that many tributes, eulogies and words of praise have been recorded over the weekend. There have been historic photographs in the newspapers of John Lewis at the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965, when he was at the front with Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta King. It was at a civil rights voting march in Selma, also in 1965, that JL was clubbed by a state trooper when he was on his knees, down of the ground by the roadside! His non-violent protest is in stark contrast to the brutal action of the vicious state trooper.
JL was the youngest speaker at the famous Freedom March in Washington DC in 1963.
In the US House of Representatives he served for 33 years, representing a district in Georgia, from 1986 and was called "the conscience of the US Congress".
Today there is a campaign to rename the Selma Bridge, where he marched and often visited, after him.
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