Photography
John Lewis, a civil rights and congressional leader, died at the age of 80 on July 17. The Georgia Democrat spent three decades in Congress defending the gains he had helped achieve for people of color as a 1960s civil rights leader. In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Tom Lankford/Birmingham News/Alabama Department of Archives and History, Donated by Alabama Media Group
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966 and one of the original Freedom Riders, preached nonviolence while enduring beatings and jailings.
At the age of 23, he spoke at the 1963 March on Washington: “We must say, ‘Wake up, America, wake up!’ For we cannot stop, and we will not be patient.” Lewis was the last living speaker from the march where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” address.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
May 24, 1961: A mug shot of John Lewis following his arrest in Jackson, Miss., for using a restroom reserved for white people during the Freedom Rider demonstration against racial segregation.
1962: Lewis, future chairman of the SNCC, and others demonstrate at a pool in a Cairo, Ill., that did not allow blacks.
Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos
Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos
Dec. 2, 1962: Two Nashville police officers carry Lewis to a waiting police paddy wagon after he failed to obey police orders to move away from the Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant.
Jimmy Ellis/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK
Jimmy Ellis/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK
July 2, 1963: Six leaders of the nation’s largest black civil rights organizations pose at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. They are, from left, Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; Whitney Young, national director of the Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, president of the Negro American Labor Council; Martin Luther King Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; James Farmer, director of the Congress of Racial Equality; and Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Harry Harris/AP
Harry Harris/AP
Feb. 23, 1965: Lewis, second from the right in the foreground, listens as public safety official Wilson Baker, left foreground, warns of the dangers of night demonstrations at the start of a march in Selma, Ala.
Anonymous/AP
Anonymous/AP
March 7, 1965: Lewis with fellow protesters at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
Tom Lankford/Birmingham News/Alabama Department of Archives and History, Donated by Alabama Media Group
Tom Lankford/Birmingham News/Alabama Department of Archives and History, Donated by Alabama Media Group
March 7, 1965: A state trooper swings a billy club at Lewis to break up a voting rights march in Selma.
unknown/AP
unknown/AP
March 21, 1965: Martin Luther King Jr. leads marchers as they begin the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march. They are, from left, an unidentified priest and man, Lewis, an unidentified nun, Ralph Abernathy, King, Ralph Bunche, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Fred Shuttlesworth.
Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Lewis, who had served in Congress since 1987, was considered the conscience of the House Democratic caucus. He used his standing as a civil rights icon to gain support on social and economic issues.
As a freshman congressman, Lewis began a fight for a national African American museum. In 2003 his bill gained approval, and in 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened its doors.
Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Sept. 3, 1986: Lewis and his wife, Lillian, lead a march of supporters from his campaign headquarters to a hotel for a victory party after defeating Julian Bond in a runoff election for Georgia's 5th Congressional District seat in Atlanta.
Linda Schaeffer/AP
Linda Schaeffer/AP
June 1, 1998: Lewis with his mother, Willie Mae Lewis, 83, at her home in Troy, Ala.
Karim Shamsi-Basha/FTWP
Karim Shamsi-Basha/FTWP
Nov. 13, 2006: Rev. Jesse Jackson, top center, and Lewis become emotional during the groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington. Consoling Lewis are former labor secretary Alexis Herman, center, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, second from left and Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister Christine King Farris, lower right.
LAUREN VICTORIA BURKE/AP
LAUREN VICTORIA BURKE/AP
March 4, 2007: Rev. James E. Jackson, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Lewis and Rev. Clete Kiley sing “We Shall Overcome” at the Brown Chapel AME Church.
Linda Davidson/The Washington Post
Linda Davidson/The Washington Post
March 21, 2010: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arm and arm with Lewis, walks to the Capitol building for a vote on health-care reform.
Melina Mara/THE WASHINGTON POST
Melina Mara/THE WASHINGTON POST
Feb. 15, 2011: President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Lewis at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
Bill O'Leary/WASHINGTON POST
Bill O'Leary/WASHINGTON POST
June 21, 2013: Lewis is photographed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Lewis was the youngest speaker at the “March on Washington” 50 years prior.
Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST
Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST
Oct. 8, 2013: Lewis is arrested near the U.S. Capitol following a rally for immigration reform.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post
Matt McClain/The Washington Post
March 7, 2015: President Barack Obama walks across the Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside Amelia Boynton Robinson, one of the original marchers, first lady Michelle Obama, and Lewis, one of the original marchers, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
March 7, 2015: The Obamas hold hands with former president George W Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and Lewis during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
April 4, 2015: Attorney General Eric Holder shares a moment with Lewis and his wife, Sharon Malone, in his office at the Department of Justice. In his thank you remarks, Holder thanked Lewis for influencing his career.
Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post
Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post
March 14, 2018: Lewis speaks to thousands of young protesters, who filled the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol to demand action on gun violence.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Oct. 24, 2019: Lewis prepares to pay his respects to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md), who lay in state within Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Lewis, who announced his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 29, continued working while undergoing treatment. In an interview with Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, he said of the recent protests, “It was so moving and so gratifying to see people from all over America and all over the world saying through their action, ‘I can do something. I can say something.’” His final public appearance was with D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) at Black Lives Matter plaza.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
March 2, 2020: Lewis signs paperwork to qualify for reelection to his District 5 seat in Atlanta.
Bob Andres/AP
Bob Andres/AP
March, 1 2020: Lewis speaks to the crowd at the Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing reenactment marking the 55th anniversary of Selma's Bloody Sunday.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
June 7, 2020: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser greets Lewis as he visits Washington's 16th Street to view the Black Lives Matter mural. It was Lewis's last public appearance before he died.
Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post
Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post
Lewis, shown here in 2011, said of his work with the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.: “Dr. King was my inspiration, my leader, my hero. If it hadn't been for Martin Luther King Jr., I don't know what would have happened to me, and to so many other people.”
Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST
Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST
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Obituary: John Lewis, civil rights leader and eminence of Capitol Hill dies at 80
Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST