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  Lewis, John R.
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
<-  2015-01-01  
 
NameJohn R. Lewis
Address2015 Wallace Road SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30331, United States
EmailNone
Website [Link]
Born February 21, 1940
DiedJuly 17, 2020 (80 years)
ContributorBarack O-blame-a
Last ModifedJuan Croniqueur
Feb 13, 2024 08:59pm
Tags Black - Married - Cancer - Baptist - Straight -
Info "John Lewis...is a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber." -- Roll Call

Often called "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community” in America. His dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral principles has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Congress.

He has been called "the conscience of the U.S. Congress,” and Roll Call magazine has said, "John Lewis…is a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber.”

He was born the son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940, outside of Troy, Alabama. He grew up on his family's farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he heard on radio broadcasts. In those pivotal moments, he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement. Ever since then, he has remained at the vanguard of progressive social movements and the human rights struggle in the United States.

As a student at Fisk University, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those Rides many times by simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons. He was also beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.

During the height of the Movement, from 1963 to 1966, Lewis was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. SNCC was largely responsible for organizing student activism in the Movement, including sit-ins and other activities.

While still a young man, John Lewis became a nationally recognized leader. By 1963, he was dubbed one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. At the age of 23, he was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.

In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community action programs during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The following year, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Hosea Williams, another notable Civil Rights leader, and John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as "Bloody Sunday." News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated South helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. After leaving SNCC in 1966, he continued his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement as Associate Director of the Field Foundation and his participation in the Southern Regional Council's voter registration programs. Lewis went on to become the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP). Under his leadership, the VEP transformed the nation's political climate by adding nearly four million minorities to the voter rolls.

In 1977, John Lewis was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.

In 1981, he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. While serving on the Council, he was an advocate for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia's Fifth Congressional District since then. He is Senior Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Party in leadership in the House, a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight.

John Lewis holds a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University, and he is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary, both in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been awarded over 50 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and universities throughout the United States, including Harvard University, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Duke University, Morehouse College, Clark-Atlanta University, Howard University, Brandeis University, Columbia University, Fisk University, and Troy State University.

John Lewis is the recipient of numerous awards from eminent national and international institutions, including the highest civilian honor granted by President Barack Obama, the Medal of Freedom, the Lincoln Medal from the historic Ford’s Theatre, the Golden Plate Award given by the Academy of Excellence, the Preservation Hero award given by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Capital Award of the National Council of La Raza, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize, the President’s Medal of Georgetown University, the NAACP Spingarn Medal, the National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award, and the only John F. Kennedy "Profile in Courage Award" for Lifetime Achievement ever granted by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

John Lewis is the co-author of the National Book Award winning and #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel memoir trilogy MARCH, written with Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell. The first volume, MARCH: Book One, received a 2014 American Library Association (ALA) Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor, an ALA Notable Children's Book designation, was named one of YALSA's 2014 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and became the first graphic novel ever to receive a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. MARCH: Book Two was released in 2015 and immediately became both a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. MARCH: Book Two was awarded the comic industry's highest honor, the Will Eisner Award, as well as two Harvey awards among other honors. MARCH: Book Three was released in 2016, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, and became the first comics work to ever win the National Book Award. In January 2017, MARCH: Book Three made history again by winning four ALA Youth Media Awards, including the Printz Award, the Sibert Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Book Award, and the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award, becoming the first book to ever win four Youth Media Awards in a single year and cementing the MARCH Trilogy's place at the pinnacle of comics and young adult literature.

The MARCH trilogy has been adopted into the core curriculum of school systems across the country to teach the Civil Rights Movement to the next generation, and has been selected as a First-Year common reading text at colleges and universities such as Michigan State University, Georgia State University, Marquette University, University of Utah, Henderson State University, University of Illinois Springfield, Washburn University, and many others. He is also the author of Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, written with Brenda Jones, and winner of the 2012 NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Work-Biography. His biography, published in 1998, is entitled Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. Written with Michael D'Orso, Walking With The Wind is a receipient of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He is also the subject of two other books written about his life: Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement, by Ann Bausum and John Lewis in the Lead, by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, with illustrations by famous Georgia artist, Bennie Andrews.

He has been interviewed for numerous documentaries, news broadcasts, and journals, including the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Morning Joe, the Rachel Maddow Show, the Today show, CNN Headline News, CNN’s American Morning, CSPAN’s Washington Journal, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Boston Globe, the Dallas Morning News, the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Tribune, Roll Call magazine, and many more.

John Lewis lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He has one son, John Miles.


JOB APPROVAL POLLS

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NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor
Jul 30, 2020 08:00am Op-Ed by Candidate Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation  Article IndyGeorgia 
Jul 28, 2020 08:00pm Event Trump says he won’t go and pay respects to John Lewis at Capitol  Article RP 
Feb 09, 2009 03:00pm News Man who beat civil rights leader asks forgiveness  Article Thomas Walker 

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FAMILY

INFORMATION LINKS
Encyclopedia of Alabama  Discuss
New Georgia Encyclopedia  Discuss
Tennessee Encyclopedia  Discuss
RACES
  07/27/2020 Lain In State/Honor - U S Capitol Rotunda Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  06/09/2020 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 87.64% (+75.29%)
  01/03/2019 US House Speaker Lost 0.23% (-50.58%)
  11/06/2018 GA District 05 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  05/22/2018 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  01/03/2017 US House Speaker Lost 0.23% (-54.97%)
  11/08/2016 GA District 05 Won 84.44% (+68.88%)
  05/24/2016 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  10/29/2015 US House Speaker Lost 0.23% (-54.40%)
  01/06/2015 US House Speaker Lost 0.24% (-52.57%)
  11/04/2014 GA District 05 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  01/03/2013 US House Speaker Lost 0.23% (-51.29%)
  11/06/2012 GA District 05 Won 84.39% (+68.78%)
  07/31/2012 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 80.75% (+61.51%)
  01/05/2011 US House Speaker Lost 0.46% (-55.20%)
  11/02/2010 GA District 05 Won 73.72% (+47.44%)
  07/20/2010 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/04/2008 GA District 05 Won 99.95% (+99.92%)
  07/15/2008 GA District 5 - D Primary Won 69.03% (+53.45%)
  11/07/2006 GA District 05 Won 99.95% (+99.90%)
  07/18/2006 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/02/2004 GA District 05 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  07/20/2004 GA District 05 - D Primary Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/05/2002 GA District 5 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/07/2000 GA District 5 Won 77.18% (+54.36%)
  11/03/1998 GA District 5 Won 78.51% (+57.03%)
  11/05/1996 GA District 5 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/08/1994 GA District 5 Won 69.13% (+38.26%)
  11/03/1992 GA District 5 Won 72.13% (+44.27%)
  07/21/1992 GA District 5 - D Primary Won 76.26% (+52.53%)
  11/06/1990 GA District 5 Won 75.59% (+51.18%)
  11/08/1988 GA District 5 Won 78.20% (+56.40%)
  11/04/1986 GA District 5 Won 75.31% (+50.62%)
  09/02/1986 GA District 5 - D Runoff Won 51.99% (+3.99%)
  08/12/1986 GA District 5 - D Primary Won 34.73% (+0.00%)
  10/08/1985 Atlanta City Council - At Large P18 Won 83.17% (+66.33%)
  10/06/1981 Atlanta City Council - At Large P18 Won 68.18% (+36.36%)
  04/05/1977 GA District 5 - Special Election Lost 37.58% (-24.85%)
  03/15/1977 GA District 5 - Special Primary Won 28.56% (+0.00%)
ENTERED, DROPPED OUT
  11/03/2020 GA District 05 Lost 0.00% (-85.15%)
ENDORSEMENTS
GA US Senate - Special Election - Nov 03, 2020 D Raphael Warnock
MA US Senate - D Primary - Sep 01, 2020 D Joseph P. Kennedy, III
TX District 24 - D Runoff - Jul 14, 2020 D Candace Valenzuela
NY District 15 - D Primary - Jun 23, 2020 D Michael A. Blake
GA District 07 - D Primary - Jun 09, 2020 D Carolyn Bourdeaux
GA US Senate - D Primary - Jun 09, 2020 D Jon Ossoff
GA US President - D Primary - Jun 09, 2020 D Joe Biden
GA Amendment 4: Marsy's Law Crime Victim Rights - Nov 06, 2018 YES Yes
MA District 07 - D Primary - Sep 04, 2018 D Mike Capuano
FL Governor - D Primary - Aug 28, 2018 D Gwen Graham
CO Governor - D Primary - Jun 26, 2018 D Jared Polis
GA Governor - D Primary - May 22, 2018 D Stacey Abrams
GA Secretary of State - D Primary - May 22, 2018 D John Barrow
Atlanta City Council President - Runoff - Dec 05, 2017 D Alex Wan
Atlanta City Council President - Nov 07, 2017 D Clarence T. "C. T." Martin
Atlanta City Council - At-Large P1 - Nov 07, 2017 D Michael Julian Bond
GA District 06 - Special Election - Apr 18, 2017 D Jon Ossoff
DNC Party Chair - Feb 25, 2017 D Keith M. Ellison
MD District 08 - D Primary - Apr 26, 2016 D Will Jawando
GA US President - D Primary - Mar 01, 2016 D Hillary Clinton
US President - D Primaries - Feb 09, 2016 D Hillary Clinton
Atlanta City Council - At-Large P2 - Nov 05, 2013 N Aaron Watson
SC District 01 - Special D Primary - Mar 19, 2013 D Elizabeth Colbert Busch
NJ District 09- D Primary - Jun 05, 2012 D Bill Pascrell
IL - District 11 - D Primary - Mar 20, 2012 D Juan R. Thomas
AL Governor - D Primary - Jun 01, 2010 D Artur Davis
GA US President- D Primary - Feb 05, 2008 D Hillary Clinton
US President - D Primaries - Jun 03, 2008 D Barack Obama
GA US President - D Primary - Mar 02, 2004 D John F. Kerry
Los Angeles City Council - District 8 - Mar 04, 2003 D Robert Cole
GA US President - D Primary - Mar 08, 1988 D Jesse L. Jackson
GA US President - D Primary - Mar 13, 1984 DFL Walter F. "Fritz" Mondale
FEC COMMITTEES
C00202416 John Lewis for Congress $ 185258.98