John Lewis | |
---|---|
![]() Lewis in 2006 | |
House Democratic Senior Chief Deputy Whip | |
In office January 3, 2003 – July 17, 2020 | |
Leader | Dick Gephardt Nancy Pelosi |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | G. K. Butterfield |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th district | |
In office January 3, 1987 – July 17, 2020 | |
Preceded by | Wyche Fowler |
Succeeded by | Kwanza Hall |
Member of the Atlanta City Council from at-large post 18 | |
In office January 1, 1982 – September 3, 1985 | |
Preceded by | Jack Summer[1] |
Succeeded by | Morris Finley |
3rd Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee | |
In office June 1963 – May 1966 | |
Preceded by | Charles McDew |
Succeeded by | Stokely Carmichael |
Personal details | |
Born | John Robert Lewis February 21, 1940 Pike County, Alabama, U.S. |
Died | July 17, 2020 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | (aged 80)
Resting place | South-View Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Lillian Miles
(m. 1968; died 2012) |
Children | 1 |
Education | |
Occupation |
|
Signature | ![]() |
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where, in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and served 17 terms. The district he represented included most of Atlanta. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. He was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the House, serving from 1991 as a chief deputy whip and from 2003 as a senior chief deputy whip. He received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.