Also American

Person · 1940–2020

John Lewis

The young SNCC firebrand — beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge — who became the moral conscience of the U.S. Congress.

A bridge from SNCC to [[reconstruction-politics|Black political power]].

As a student John Lewis helped lead the Nashville sit-ins, rode with the Freedom Riders, chaired SNCC, and spoke at the 1963 March on Washington. On "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, 1965, he was beaten nearly to death by Alabama state troopers — galvanizing support for the Voting Rights Act.

He served in the U.S. House from 1987 until his death in 2020, where he was known as "the conscience of the Congress" and urged Americans to make "good trouble."

The Civil Rights Movement

On the timeline

  1. April 17, 1960
    SNCC is founded

    Student activists form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

  2. May 4, 1961
    The Freedom Rides

    Interracial riders challenge segregated buses and terminals, met with mob violence.

  3. August 28, 1963
    The March on Washington

    250,000 gather as Dr. King delivers "I Have a Dream," pressing for jobs and freedom.

  4. March 7, 1965
    Selma and Bloody Sunday

    Marchers for voting rights are beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, spurring the Voting Rights Act.

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