Born to sharecropper parents in Troy, AL on Feb. 21, 1940, John Lewis (1940-2020) moved to Nashville in 1957 to attend American Baptist Theological Seminary. He began attending non-violence workshops at Clark Memorial Methodist Church with Rev. James Lawson, and became a prominent member of the Nashville Student Movement during the civil rights sit-ins. Lewis also participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961, served as chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), spoke at the March on Washington in 1963, was injured on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL during a voting rights campaign, and served for 17 terms in Congress, representing Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.
John Robert Lewis
36.161305, -86.780393
Description
Born to sharecropper parents in Troy, AL on Feb. 21, 1940, John Lewis (1940-2020) moved to Nashville in 1957 to attend American Baptist Theological Seminary. He began attending non-violence workshops at Clark Memorial Methodist Church with Rev. James Lawson, and became a prominent member of the Nashville Student Movement during the civil rights sit-ins. Lewis also participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961, served as chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), spoke at the March on Washington in 1963, was injured on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL during a voting rights campaign, and served for 17 terms in Congress, representing Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.