On Friday night, John Lewis — known for his work as a civil rights leader and for his many years in Congress — died at the age of 80. Lewis had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer late last year. His life and work were an inspiration to many people, including lawmakers, journalists and activists. Lewis worked tirelessly for the cause of civil rights, beginning with his work on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee when he was in his early 20s.
John Lewis has crossed over the final bridge. The last of the "Big Six" civil rights leaders is gone. If courage had a name, it was his, and he leaves us at a time when the stakes of all he struggled for could not be higher… pic.twitter.com/07jeQdtrTK
— Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGates) July 18, 2020
Lewis was committed to a philosophy of nonviolence, which he spent his entire life advocating. He was one of the earliest Freedom Riders, helped to plan the 1963 March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom and led a group of hundreds in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965. In the wake of Lewis’s passing, there have been a number of calls to rename the bridge in his honor; at the time of this writing, #RenameTheBridge was trending on Twitter.
I’ve been too emotional to write something proper here about Rep. John Lewis. When I wrote that Black people have been the perfecters of this democracy, he was top of my mind. He was one of the greatest Americans we ever produced, loved this country that didn’t love us so deeply. pic.twitter.com/GlVKPWRZDr
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 18, 2020
Lewis was elected to the House in 1986; he would remain in Congress for the remainder of his life. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Following Lewis’s death, a diverse group of mourners took to social media to pay tribute to his life. Some noted his work in the 1960s; others hailed his work to end gun violence and his longtime advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. Late in life, he won a National Book Award for the third volume of March, a graphic novel recounting his experiences working for the cause of civil rights in the 1960s.
Lewis’s legacy will be felt for years to come. A recent documentary about his life, John Lewis: Good Trouble, was released this year to positive reviews. The film takes its title from a phrase Lewis returned to repeatedly in his writings and speeches. Earlier this year, Lewis addressed an audience in Selma and offered a powerful message: “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
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