Civil Rights Icon and 17-Term Georgia Congressman John Lewis Has Died

Photo credit: Larry French, Getty Images.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), one of the youngest leaders of the 1960s Civil Rights era and a 17-term Congressman representing Atlanta, has passed away.

Late last year, Lewis, who was known as the “conscience of the Congress,” was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, meaning the cancer had spread throughout his body. Patients with such an aggressive form of the disease have survival rates that average just a few months after diagnosis. According to NBC News, Lewis, who had been in hospice care, died on Friday at age 80. Lewis died just hours apart from the passing of another major civil rights figure, 95-year-old Rev. Corey Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, a Baptist minister who was  a key member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” Lewis said in a statement last December about his prognosis. “So I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community. We still have many bridges to cross.”

Lewis was one of the original Freedom Riders and arrested dozens of times during his organizing and protesting. In 1963, at just 23 years old, he assumed the leadership of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of key organizations fighting for civil rights during the 1960s. As SNCC president, Lewis was one of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights movement, along with icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the SCLC, and Roy Wilkins, head of the NAACP, that helped strategize boycotts, marches, and sit-ins as well as African-American voter drives across the South.

During the famous “Bloody Sunday” march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama on March 7, 1965, Lewis was violently attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and his skull was fractured, leading to permanent scars from the assault. A photo of a bloody Lewis became one of iconic images of the Civil Rights movement. Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011 for his role in the civil rights struggle.

As the news broke of the legendary American’s death spread, praise for Lewis and sadness over his passing rolled in online.

John Lewis was an American treasure.

He gave a voice to the voiceless, and he reminded each of us that the most powerful nonviolent tool is the vote.

Our hearts feel empty without our friend, but we find comfort knowing that he is free at last.

— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) July 18, 2020

John Lewis’s memory moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make “good trouble, necessary trouble.” May it be a comfort to his son John-Miles & his entire family that so many mourn their loss at this sad time. https://t.co/cPEn54Tpi6

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 18, 2020

Farewell, sir.

You did, indeed, fight the good fight and get into a lot of good trouble.

You served God and humanity well.
Thank you.
Take your rest. #JohnLewis pic.twitter.com/U1cPEwfCGO

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 18, 2020

I simply have no words to express the magnitude of this loss. This is just too much. Rest in peace and power #JohnLewis. pic.twitter.com/Jrp0JX005w

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) July 18, 2020

Terrible loss: Civil Rights icon John Lewis has died after a struggle with pancreatic cancer. The Congressman became a young leader and speaker at Dr. King’s 1963 March on Washington, and in 1965 almost died in the brutal attack on marchers at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) July 18, 2020

Devastating news: civil rights leader, Georgia congressman and American hero John Lewis has died. pic.twitter.com/5DbUT8TDQi

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 18, 2020

We are deeply saddened by the passing of John Lewis. His life-long mission for justice, equality and freedom left a permanent impression on our nation and world. The NAACP extends our sincerest condolences to his family, and we send prayers of comfort and strength to all.

— NAACP (@NAACP) July 18, 2020

The news hits deep. And to the core. John Lewis dead. Can it really be? He had strength, courage, and heart enough for many lifetimes. We were young once. So many memories. So much distance traveled. So much further to go. Farewell my friend. We shall overcome someday.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 18, 2020

“When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, do something.”@repjohnlewis was an American treasure and a civil rights & equality champion. There will never be another.

His legacy will live forever.

Rest in power. pic.twitter.com/xjyaOrk5cn

— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) July 18, 2020

Congressman John Lewis was a giant.

A leader for civil rights and a true champion for change, our nation will not be the same without his steady leadership and passion for getting into good trouble.

Rest in power.

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) July 18, 2020

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