John Lewis

Nashville's Historic Woolworth Building is in Trouble

America faces a choice between preserving the sites of its civil rights history within the evolving fabric of cities and towns, or erecting more plaques explaining what happened in the buildings that used to be there.

Latest Installment of Graphic Format Memoir of John Lewis Deals with Ongoing Legacy

A conversation with Andrew Aydin, John Lewis's former aide and collaborator on "Run," the hit graphic format memoir, discusses the legacy of the activist and congressman. 

While Auburn Hides Behind Law, Troy University Takes Racist Name Off Building

by Jennifer Brooks

A history professor urges her university to defy an Alabama law that prohibits renaming a historic public building; the legacy of civil disobedience from the Civil Rights movement demands nothing less. 

Two American Dreams: Will Voters Choose John Lewis's or Donald Trump's?

by Walter G. Moss

The late Congressman John Lewis and Donald Trump offer two starkly divergent versions of the American Dream--a choice between nurturing community and freedom and acquisitive materialism. 

Mourning Two Civil Rights Heroes Across the Atlantic

by Donald M. Beaudette and Laura Weinstein

As we remember John Hume and John Lewis, we should find inspiration to continue their struggle.

Review: The New John Lewis Biography is a Stirring Tribute that Still Sells Him Short

Readers who know little about Lewis will find an often moving story, but it will prove unsatisfying to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the movement.

We Don’t Need Bill Clinton’s History Of Civil Rights

by Erik Loomis

Bill Clinton decided to use John Lewis’ funeral to take a shot at Stokely Carmichael. The last thing we need is whites to use such opportunities to tell histories of the civil rights movements that are used to make them feel comfortable.

Stokely Carmichael Didn’t Deserve Bill Clinton’s Swipe During John Lewis’s Funeral

by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

This mischaracterization of Carmichael serves a purpose. It allows people to dismiss his critique of America.

I Interviewed John Lewis 45 Years Ago. His Commitment To Voting Rights Never Wavered.

“It’s still a source of pain that the Voting Rights Act has not been more actively enforced,” Lewis told me in 1975, 10 years after passage of the law.

John Lewis Makes Final Journey Across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma (Video)

Hundreds had gathered along the route from the church to the bridge, some traveling hours to see Lewis’s final journey, others lining up in the early morning.

At Memorial Service, John Lewis’s Family Urges Americans To Keep His Legacy Alive

Speakers at a public memorial service in Troy, Ala., Lewis’s birthplace, urged Americans to carry on his legacy.

Sean Wilentz: On the Importance of Studying and Debating American History (Podcast)

Wilentz argues that understanding America’s past—from the inspiring to the shameful—is vital for what he calls informed citizenship.

When I was 12, John Lewis Talked my Mom into Letting Me March with Him

Because of Lewis, I got my first chance to protest my city’s and region’s racist policies and practices — from where we could eat, work, live, go to school, swim, party, play sports and even use the taxpayer-funded public restrooms.

John Lewis’ Fight for Equality Was Never Limited to Just the United States

by Keisha N. Blain

By linking national concerns to global ones, John Lewis compelled others to see that the problems of racism and white supremacy were not contained within U.S. borders.

Remembering John Lewis

by Nicolaus Mills

How long Lewis expected America to take before it woke up he did not say, but as he showed both in the 1960s and in a political career as a Georgia Congressman that began in 1987 and lasted until his death, Lewis did not tire when change did not go as he wanted.

Rep. John Lewis on the Freedom Rides, Surviving KKK Attacks, 1963 March on Washington & Malcolm X

In 2012, Rep. Lewis spoke to Democracy Now! about his efforts during the civil rights movement.

Police Would Treat John Lewis Today the Same Way They Treated Him in 1965

"When police beat someone for challenging a morally diseased system, the phrase “beaten for challenging a morally diseased system” rarely gets written in the incident report."

Petition Calls for Selma Bridge To Be Named After John Lewis

Advocates for the name change include filmmaker Ava DuVernay and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn.

Democrats Demand Expansion of Voting Rights in Memory of John Lewis

House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn is calling on Trump to turn words into action.

The Essential and Enduring Strength of John Lewis

by Jelani Cobb

"Lewis, like his peers Andrew Young, Marion Barry, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, transitioned into elected office as the post from which he would undertake this work. It was not an easy undertaking."