A Celebration Of John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader Extraordinare

-by Melody Siegler,
constituent

Who is John Lewis?  Easy answer: he’s my congressman- the GA-05 district.  DWT readers may find my experience shocking (or not)-- but a lot people I know one way or the other from around the country don’t actually know the name of their congressman. And, if I say (rather proudly) “mine is John Lewis” that simply doesn’t register. For those of you who might wish to inform clueless friends, here’s a very very brief rundown:

John Robert Lewis:  Born in rural Alabama in 1940, town of Troy.  At age 18, March 1958, meets MLK Jr. Lewis had written to King in Montgomery Alabama, asking for his help. King sent him a round trip Greyhound bus ticket from Troy to Mongomery, so that they could meet. Attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, where he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. In 1960, Lewis became one of the 13 original Freedom Riders. In 1963 he was elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was one its founding members. Lewis was one of the organizers of the historic 1963 March on Washington. At age 23, Lewis was youngest of the 10 speakers.

  Fast forward to 1965, Selma, and Bloody Sunday, as summarized here:

In 1965, at the height of the modern civil rights movement, activists organized a march for voting rights, from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capital. On March 7, some 600 people assembled at a downtown church, knelt briefly in prayer, and began walking silently, two-by-two through the city streets.  With Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leading the demonstration, and John Lewis, Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), at his side, the marchers were stopped as they were leaving Selma, at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, by some 150 Alabama state troopers, sheriff ’s deputies, and possemen, who ordered the demonstrators to disperse. One minute and five seconds after a two-minute warning was announced, the troops advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. John Lewis, who suffered a skull fracture, was one of fifty-eight people treated for injuries at the local hospital. The day is remembered in history as “Bloody Sunday.”

“Two Minute Warning,” photograph by Spider Martin, March 7, 1965

(John Lewis stands next to Hosea Williams at the front)

With Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leading the demonstration, and John Lewis, Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), at his side, the marchers were stopped as they were leaving Selma, at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, by some 150 Alabama state troopers, sheriff ’s deputies, and possemen, who ordered the demonstrators to disperse.

One minute and five seconds after a two-minute warning was announced, the troops advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. John Lewis, who suffered a skull fracture, was one of fifty-eight people treated for injuries at the local hospital. The day is remembered in history as “Bloody Sunday.”

John Lewis (in the foreground) being beaten by state troopers, March 7, 1965

Note that he is wearing the same coat as in photo above.

But, above are just stills. These two youtube give a more visually graphic account:

Part of the narrative for the first YouTube:  MLK Jr. on events leading up to Bloody Sunday:  “He (Jimmy Lee Jackson) was murdered (shot at point blank range) by the irresponsibility of every politician from Governors on down who have fed his constituents a stale bread of hatred the spoiled meat of racism.”

A hellish scene of police brutality and chaos.



This second YouTube shows more graphically the hellish scene.  Througout the following you can identify John Lewis in his raincoat, wearing his backpack, and next to him Hosea Williams, wearing a dark overcoat.



Fast forward even more: 1968, Lewis continues his work to enfranchise minorities. 1970, he becames director of the Voter Education Project  and during his tenure, the VEP helped to register millions of minority voters. In 1981, Lewis wins a seat on the Atlanta City Council. In 1986, he is elected to the House of Representatives, and is such as of this day. He is the only serving member of the “Big Six” of the Civil Rights Movement. This is his website:

For those of you who know the “legend” of John Lewis, but don’t yet have a sense of this man, an interview on The Colbert Report in 2012 will give some clues.  Okay, so this is a spoiler, but pay attention to how he gracefully conveys his story, gracefully plays the “straight man” for Colbert, and how he manages to flummox Colbert at the end.

What got me started on this post?  Howie has talked about the movie Selma, as the second part of a post about Marches.

I haven’t yet seen the movie, but I wondered if John Lewis had commented on it. He has.

Variety  (The Show Biz daily) posted an interview with John Lewis-- this is part of the text.  

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who helped lead the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Ala. said, that …(the movie) Selma is “long overdue.”  Lewis continues:  “The movie is good timing with what is going on in Ferguson, and I was so pleased to see in the movie there was a mention of Ferguson… It was said to another generation, and maybe future generations, that through the peaceful non-violent action you can bring about change.”

In the movie, Lewis and Williams lead the marchers across the bridge, only to be stopped as they see a flank of state troopers, holding billy clubs and other weapons, blocking their way on the other side of the Alabama River. Williams asks Lewis, “Can you swim?”

Lewis says that is what actually happened at that moment.

“Even today I don’t know how to swim … But as we cross the bridge on Bloody Sunday, I think Hosea thought there was a possibility we could be going overboard, or something could happen that we could jump in the water. But I preferred taking my chances by just walking straight ahead, and that is what I did.”

Of watching the movie’s re-creation of the Bloody Sunday march, Lewis says, “It was not just hard to go back there [and watch it on screen], but [it was hard] seeing, reliving what happened to the women and children, and hearing people crying out for help. I thought the movie did a good job in capturing the essence of what happened and how it happened… It was long overdue. It was time for it to be on the bigscreen.”

The accuracy of the movie was so exact, Lewis says, that he wants to tell the actor who played him, Stephan James, that “I want my backpack, I want my trenchcoat.” That’s because Lewis is preparing to go to Selma in March for the 50th anniversary commemoration.

Thank you, John Lewis. I am proud to have you as my congressional representative.

Elephant in the room, 2015