Rep. John Lewis talking with a Somali child during Operation Restore Hope, 1993 (NARA ID 6508426); President Barack Obama embracing Rep. John Lewis, 3/7/2015 (NARA ID 157649496); Photo of the two-minute warning on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. (NARA ID 16899041); John Lewis with President Obama and others at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma March (NARA ID 157649500)

We Remember Civil Rights Legend John Lewis 

There is perhaps no single figure whose own life and career embodies the promise, success, and continued challenges of civil rights for Black Americans than John Lewis. We mourn this tremendous loss and look back on his incredible history through our holdings dating back to the early 1960s, including the March on Washington and the “Bloody Sunday” Selma March.

Hear Rep. Lewis describe his meeting with JFK before the March on Washington (from his Oral History for the JFK Library).

It was in this meeting...  somehow out of the blue A. Philip Randolph says something like, “Mr. President, the black masses are restless,” in his baritone voice. “The black masses are restless, and we’re going to march on Washington.” And you could tell by the body language of President Kennedy, he just sort of moved and twisted and turned in his chair, he didn’t necessarily like what he heard. And he said, “Mr. Randolph, if you bring a lot of people to Washington, won’t there be a crisis, disorder, chaos? And we would never be able to get a civil rights bill through the Congress.” And Mr. Randolph responded and said, “Mr. President, this will be an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent protest.” And President Kennedy sort of said, “Well, I think we’re going to have problems. But we all have problems, and we can solve those problems.”

See John Lewis in The March (film of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, restored by the National Archives Motion Picture Preservation Lab). At 23 he was the youngest speaker that day and was the last remaining living speaker.

See also:

FBI Case File #44-28492: Bloody Sunday, Rediscovering Black History blog post by archivist Dr. Tina Ligon

Selma, Edmund Pettus Bridge FBI Case File, Rediscovering Black History blog post by archives specialist Netisha Currie

Testimony of John Lewis in Court Case resulting from 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero introduces Rep. John Lewis at National Archives event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

Video:  John Lewis on Rights and Justice in America

Rest in Power with the ancestors, John Lewis✊🏾🖤

John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020)

After years of putting his body and his freedom on the line as an activist, he spent more than three decades in Congress.

John Lewis, who went from being the youngest leader of the 1963 March on Washington to a long-serving congressman from Georgia and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday. He was 80.

As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Lewis was a committed participant in some of the key moments of the movement — an original Freedom Rider in 1961, a principal speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, one of those brutally clubbed during a 1965 march in Selma, Alabama. Through it all, he faced taunts, beatings and dozens of arrests.

By his middle years, he was in Congress and sometimes referred to it as its “conscience.”

Lewis died on the same day as civil rights leader the Rev. Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian, who was 95.

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) is photographed in his offices in the Canon House office building in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2009. Jeff Hutchens—Getty Images.

Image of the late Rep. John Lewis projected onto the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, VA. #goodtrouble #blacklivesmatter #ripjohnlewis (📸 & words: @ianbremmer) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC4fkrMpYBA/?igshid=1fraeivcvc743

Thomas Evans @detour303 🙏🏾 Get into #GoodTrouble 🙏🙏🙏 You are free to share wherever you want. Let the world know how instrumental #johnlewis was to our world. Found the photographer of the reference: @anthonybgeathers He captures amazing photos of subjects. #supportblackart #thomasevans #ripjohnlewis #spraytheirname #streetart #civilrights #murals #mural #acrylic #artist #artwork #artstudio #painting #urbanart #blackart #artnerd #artlover https://www.instagram.com/p/CC6W7P4BQi4/?igshid=vbez1j2985lx

Beyond heartwarming. In 2018, a 10-year-old Tybre Faw traveled 7 hours to see his hero, Rep. John Lewis. ✊🏿 #BlackExcellence #RIPJohnLewis https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyaxkDj0UN/?igshid=d1v1b2fy215b

That time I photographed John Lewis as he stood up for justice in our neighborhood, the 5th District, a district with beautiful people committed to the beautiful struggle. Being poor is not a crime. The creation of poverty is. - Photo of John Lewis by BMS Creator —— #blackmensmile #johnlewis #hero #ripjohnlewis https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzOcsRg7s9/?igshid=buwrfkvy2x1q

John Lewis tribute by Teachr on the Sunset Strip.

Rest in peace Mr. Lewis. Thank you for your service to this messed-up country of ours.

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” John Lewis 2018

Rest In Peace to Reverend C.T. Vivian and Congressman John Lewis. Two civil right leaders and real American Heroes. #realhistory #ripctvivian #ripjohnlewis #civilrights #civilrightsactivist https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzb-c0jWGb/?igshid=ndyonctrvtw4

This man is and was the epitome of INTEGRITY. He had it, in droves upon droves. Aspire to be like Rep John Lewis and to be a force of change in this world. Fight for what's right. Get into GOOD TROUBLE. Rest in Power, Mr. Lewis. #johnlewis #blacklivesmatter #ripjohnlewis #civilrightsmovement #civilrights https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyq7Hhlkf9/?igshid=1xpoeg3wlvpbv

“When you become one of the ancestors”. From left center, John Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy, march for civil rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, March 19, 1965. #RIPJohnLewis #Good Trouble #RelafordRenaissance #ClubRelaford #AP https://www.instagram.com/p/CDM2RKqgP54/?igshid=cy3q9j6xzlk2

1970s Avengers comic book-style tribute to real-life superheroes, Rev. C.T. Vivian and Rep. John Lewis. They were arrested together as Freedom Riders on May 24, 1961. They died within hours of each other on July 17, 2020. Real heroes. (art & words by @stlmarlonwest ) #ripjohnlewis #ripctvivian #civilrightsmovement #freedomfighters #americanheroes https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2L53qJlM6/?igshid=1rpxvlpgflrz1

U.S. Congressperson and former civil rights activist/organizer John Lewis was laid to rest today. His service took place at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. The ministerial home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 50s and 60s, Ebenezer has a long history with African people’s struggle for freedom and justice. That’s why its surreal that we find ourselves in a place today where someone like Bill Clinton can be welcomed into the pulpit at Ebenezer to offer an opinion on the correct path African people must take to achieve our forward progress. Clinton, of course, was the 42nd president of the U.S. empire. His claim to fame while being president was fooling scores of Africans into believing that he was our friend. It wasn’t until Obama was elected in 2008 that some African people stopped referring to Clinton as “our first Black president.” Underneath the superficial character presentation of Clinton existed a politician who built, along with his wife and many other opportunists a colossal industry based on imprisoning African people in this country. The Omnibus Crime bill, passed during Clinton’s tenure in 1994, proliferated incarceration rates, primarily of poor and African and/or Indigenous peoples, at record rates. And, yet, despite that clear legacy of harm caused against our people, we still invite someone like this to speak in one of our most storied and respected churches.

As a result, it should come as no surprise that Clinton used his opportunity to honor Lewis by taking a swipe at the legacy of Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael). Ture, was the organizer within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who unseated Lewis as chairperson of SNCC in 1966, thus signaling SNCC’s turn towards much more militant politics. In Clinton’s words, this nation is in such a better place because Lewis refused to continue within SNCC after “Stokely.”

Of course, the position advanced by Clinton should surprise no one who has studied the history of this man. And, it was ironic that Clinton reminisced during his Lewis speech about “being with Jesse Jackson” because it was Jackson who was at the center of one of Clinton’s first clear indications of what type of snake he really was. During his 1992 presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush (the first Bush president), Clinton used a traditional Southern Strategy race baiting tactic to call out Jesse Jackson, who at that time was considered one of the leading civil rights leaders in the U.S. Clinton did this by making a public reference to Jackson having some type of political comradery with then so-called “Blacktivist”, rapper, Sista Souljah who had made a name for herself by calling out white supremacy in uncompromising terms. Clinton, in a direct appeal to bourgeoisie voters, primarily European ones, attacked Jackson at that time as pandering to racist African militancy.

In some ways, what Clinton said today about Kwame Ture is a continuation of those politics of respectability and accommodation. That the only right way we could ever advance our struggle for justice is by adopting positions that did not challenge the very existence of the power structure. Instead, the “responsible” way to struggle is always that of waiting, being patient, and working within the very system that keeps us oppressed. Clinton’s comments were opportunistic and designed to send a message to our people at a time when the very foundation of this system is being questioned in many ways. Clinton’s message? Don’t stray too far away from the master. Stay within this system and you will be rewarded. Resist, and you will be punished. It would be hard to find much fundamental difference between what Clinton said today and what Trump says every-day. Plus, its highly doubtful that Lewis himself would have agreed with the characterization that Clinton gave regarding SNCC’s direction in 1966. Now, I doubt there is even 2% of what Lewis believed that I agree with, but one thing I do know is that even after an initial period of distance after that 1966 election, Lewis evolved to a place where he eventually had a positive relationship with Kwame Ture. He even came and participated directly in the dinner honoring Kwame’s life shortly before Kwame made his own physical transition back in 1997.

The bourgeoisie are the spokespersons for the international capitalist/Imperialist network which is led by the U.S. And, Clinton is undoubtedly a member of the bourgeoisie class. Every U.S. president is a member of this class, including Obama. Their roles after leaving the presidential office are to continue to advance the values of capitalism, which cannot happen without also advancing white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, and all the forms of injustice that capitalism thrives on. Obama does this routinely as does Clinton. Its their class responsibility. The bigger problem is that so many of us have no understanding of history, and no desire to have an understanding, that when these people distort our history, we don’t have the tools to effectively push back. For example, if someone was to say, as Clinton did today, that SNCC, under Kwame Ture’s leadership (and later Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, formally H. Rap Brown, and then Phil Hutchings), went downhill and Lewis left to preserve some level of dignity while those wild Africans ran the organization into the ground, it would be necessary for you to have the proper understanding of SNCC history to place Clinton’s comments in the garbage can where they belong. You can do that by understanding what happened to SNCC after Kwame became the chairperson of the organization. What happened is the launching of the most recent Black power movement. The bourgeoisie want you to define that era in the late sixties by the hundreds of urban rebellions, but we employ you not to back down from that challenge. Even Dr. King knew that urban rebellions are the voice of the voiceless. In other words, when people are in pain, they lash out. When a child touches a hot stove, they don’t start singing a song and playing. Urban rebellions are reflections of this system’s inability or desire to change oppressive conditions, so people lash out. If people don’t want people lashing out, care more about people unjustly losing their lives than you do about property being attacked as a result of this glaring human contradiction. Besides that, what SNCC actually accomplished through the Black power movement was a mass awakening that we as a people have the right to exist in a manner consistent with our values and culture, regardless of how European society feels or thinks about it. Without that movement, there would be no Black Lives Matter movement. There would probably be no LGBTQ movement or women’s movements. No physically challenged movement. All of those evolved as a result of the Black power movement. And, that developing consciousness led to SNCC taking a revolutionary position against the Vietnam war. In fact, as quiet as its kept, it was SNCC that led the smash the draft movement. They were the ones who popularized the saying “hell no, we won’t go!” (a Kwame classic), and they were the first national organization at the time (with respect to the Nation of Islam) to take a national position against zionism and in support of the Palestinian people. Clearly, all of those things have advanced and evolved to become mainstream elements of the social movements you are seeing in action today and none of this could be happening without the contributions of the more militant SNCC, led in party by Kwame Ture. So, clearly, there was no moral imperative to part “from Stokely” as Clinton implied in his boring and absurd comments earlier today.

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Soldier, leader & modern day warrior... in every way that mattered. Rest well deserved. One time for a real one. #RIPJohnLewis (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzvsz-gdZf/?igshid=1su4px4m4se8y