John Lewis

1940-02-21 – 2020-07-17

Civil rights leader, Freedom Rider, and longtime U.S. Congressman known for "good trouble."

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John Lewis was one of the youngest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and remained a champion of justice throughout his life. At age 23, he was one of the "Big Six" organizers of the March on Washington, where he gave a powerful speech just before Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" address. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he organized sit-ins and Freedom Rides to challenge segregation. On "Bloody Sunday" (March 7, 1965), Lewis led 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers fractured his skull. The televised brutality shocked the nation and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Lewis served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 33 years, famously urging young people to get into "good trouble, necessary trouble."