Official John Lewis Congressional photo
U.S. Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis has died at the age of 80.
He decided to fight for civil rights after being denied a library card as a child because he wasn’t white.
He was a founder of the Freedom Rides, going from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, suffering violence while attempting to help African Americans register to vote.
He was also a leader of the of the Selma Marches, being severely beaten on March 7, 1965 when he led the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which many want renamed after him.
He co-wrote the graphic novel trilogy “March” based on his experiences and the civil rights movement, winning the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for Book 3 of the series.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the end of December, 2019.
