Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an icon of the civil rights movement, will undergo treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer, his office said Sunday. He learned of the diagnosis this month, after what Lewis, 79, described as a "routine medical visit and subsequent tests."
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What did John Lewis do in Selma?
· By Suzanne Ciechalski and Rima Abdelkader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an icon of the civil rights movement, will undergo treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer, his office said Sunday. He learned of...
What kind of cancer does John Lewis have?
· In 2019, the longtime Democratic congressman and civil rights icon announced he was undergoing treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer. NEW You can now listen to …
What happened to the body of John Lewis?
· Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Lewis had declined to publicize his personal course of treatment, but had recently been in hospice care in Atlanta. Pancreatic cancer has...
Was John Lewis seriously injured in the civil rights march?
· Rep. John Lewis, a towering icon of the civil rights movement, announced Sunday that he will begin receiving treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The 79-year-old said he was diagnosed during a ...
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· Published July 26, 2020 Updated July 28, 2020. SELMA, Ala. — On a different Sunday in Selma, this one more than five decades ago, John Lewis was a 25-year-old activist wearing a long tan coat ...
What happened when John Lewis led the Selma march in 1965?
On that fateful day, 600 civil rights activists gathered in Selma, Alabama, to begin a 52-mile march to the state's capital, Montgomery. Led by future Congressman John Lewis and Hosea Williams, the peaceful demonstrators demanded an end to discrimination in voter registration, particularly for Black southerners.
How old was John Lewis when he crossed Pettus bridge?
25John Lewis crosses bridge where, at 25, he thought he would be killed. The casket carrying the activist and congressman will cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, one final time.
What methods did the Alabama state troopers use?
[Alabama state troopers using tear gas and clubs against African Americans and others during the Selma to Montgomery march] | Library of Congress.
How old was John Lewis in Selma?
25-year-old— On a different Sunday in Selma, this one more than five decades ago, John Lewis was a 25-year-old activist wearing a long tan coat and carrying a backpack, helping to marshal hundreds of demonstrators across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
What happened to John Lewis on Edmund Pettus Bridge?
John Lewis Crosses Selma Bridge One Last Time : NPR. John Lewis Crosses Selma Bridge One Last Time In 1965, John Lewis was nearly killed as he led a group of protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest racial discrimination in voting. On Sunday, his body crossed that bridge one last time.
Why was the bridge named after Edmund Pettus?
The bridge in 1940 was named after Pettus, a Confederate general and reputed Ku Klux Klan leader. However, 25 years later it became an enduring symbol of the civil rights movement after marchers were beaten by law enforcement officers on the bridge in 1965.
Did Martin Luther King across the Edmund Pettus Bridge?
On March 9, King led more than 2,000 marchers, Black and white, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge but found Highway 80 blocked again by state troopers. King paused the marchers and led them in prayer, whereupon the troopers stepped aside.
Why did Martin Luther King turn around on the bridge in Selma?
He did so as a symbolic gesture. LeRoy Collins, the governor of Florida, suggested he should first pray as he arrives on the bridge, and then turn around and lead all of the protesters back to Selma in an attempt to get a symbolic accomplishment of crossing the bridge while keeping everyone safe.
Was Martin Luther King at Selma?
On 25 March 1965, Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC ...
Who organized Bloody Sunday?
Bloody Sunday began as a peaceful—but illegal—demonstration by some 10,000 people organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in opposition to the British government's policy of interning suspected members of the IRA without trial.
Who led Bloody Sunday?
The column led by Gapon was fired upon near the Narva Gate. Around forty people were killed or wounded there, although Gapon himself was not injured.
What John Lewis died of?
July 17, 2020John Lewis / Date of death
What cancer did John Lewis have?
In 2019, the longtime Democratic congressman and civil rights icon announced he was undergoing treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer. John Lewis saw the line of Alabama state troopers a few hundred yards away as he led hundreds of marchers to the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965.
What happened to John Lewis in 1965?
In this March 7, 1965, file photo, a state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis, right foreground, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala. Le wis sustained a fractured skull.
Who died on the bridge?
Wallace died in 1998, five years after Cloud, and Judge Johnson died in 1999. Hosea Williams, the other march leader who was beside Lewis that day on the bridge, died in 2000.
Who said "Speak up, speak out, get in the way"?
Lewis outlived other key players in what came to be known as Bloody Sunday by many years. He addressed a throng atop the bridge in March, after his cancer diagnosis, to mark the 55th commemoration of the day. “Speak up, speak out, get in the way,” said Lewis, who appeared frail but spoke in a strong voice.
How many miles did Lewis walk to Montgomery?
Martin Luther King Jr. at the front of more than 3,000 marchers when they left Selma on March 21, 1965, for the epic 52-mile walk to Montgomery.
Who was beaten in the line behind Lewis?
Others were beaten even worse as whites cheered from nearby. Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was in the line behind Lewis, was tear-gassed and beaten so badly she had to be carried away unconscious. Others were clubbed by the sheriff’s posse members on horseback. TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR CIVIL RIGHTS ICON AND US REP.
What happened to Lewis when he tried to get up?
A state trooper standing upright hit him once in the head with a nightstick; Lewis shielded his head with a hand. The trooper hit Lewis again as he tried to get up. The officer was never publicly identified; Lewis testified he didn’t know who it was, and a gas mask shielded the man's identity.
What was the cause of death of John Lewis?
Though no official cause of death has been given, Lewis announced in December that he was receiving treatments for stage IV pancreatic cancer. He said he found out about the cancer during a routine medical examination.
Who was John Lewis?
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who battled on the front lines of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and then spent three decades “as the Conscience of the Congress,” died on Friday at age 80.
Who said "Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable
Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did: https://t.co/KbVfYt5CeQ
When was Lewis elected to Congress?
Lewis was elected to Congress in 1986, representing Georgia’s 5th District, which includes much of Atlanta. In a statement announcing his death, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Lewis “a titan of the civil rights movement” and “the Conscience of the Congress.”
Where was Lewis born?
Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, outside of Troy, AL , where his parents were sharecroppers. Inspired by the Montgomery bus boycott led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis went to Fisk University in Nashville and organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters.
What district did Lewis represent?
Lewis had vowed to continue representing the 5th District of Georgia in Congress, saying he would fight the cancer like he fought for civil rights.
Who was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington?
Lewis threw himself into the civil rights struggle and became a confidante of King. He was one of the original Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the youngest speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.
What did the men of Selma do to help the world?
The men acknowledged the progress they said the bloodshed in Selma helped bring about: securing voting rights and creating more economic and educational opportunity. Yet they noted the biases that remain difficult to scrub away.
Where was Lewis taken?
The body of Mr. Lewis was taken across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where, in 1965, he helped guide hundreds of people marching for voting rights. They were attacked by state troopers wielding clubs and tear gas. Credit Credit... Timothy Ivy for The New York Times. By Rick Rojas.
Why did Sharon Calkins-Tucker identify with him?
Sharon Calkins-Tucker identified with him, she said, because she was also outspoken. “Without us,” she said, “nothing would get out and nothing would ever change.”
Where did Selma go on his pilgrimage?
Selma was a stop in the valedictory pilgrimage retracing the arc of his life. The trek started on Saturday in Troy, the Alabama town near the cotton farm where he was raised, and continues this week onto Washington, where he served in Congress, and Atlanta, which became his home. Image.
What was Lewis' message?
Lewis’s message of “good trouble,” a belief that change can be propelled by a willingness to rebel against an oppressive system, even in the face of steep consequences.
Where is Lewis' funeral?
In Atlanta, with his funeral scheduled on Thursday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, pastors and elected officials will try to synthesize the totality of his life and work. But this final journey through Alabama has been about Mr. Lewis’s origin story. Image.
Why was Lewis surrounded by mourners?
He was surrounded by mourners drawn to what felt like sacred ground. They were there to bid farewell to Mr. Lewis, who became a guiding force in the civil rights movement in no small part because of his role in the march for the right to vote on March 7, 1965.
What honor did John Lewis receive in 2001?
2001: Lewis receives the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement, one of a multitude of honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented by President Barack Obama in 2011.
What happened to Lewis in 1965?
March 7, 1965: Lewis is beaten by an Alabama state trooper while attempting to lead an estimated 600 voting rights marchers out of Selma on the way to Montgomery in an violent confrontation now known as Bloody Sunday. He spends two days in a hospital. US REP.
When did Lewis die?
July 17, 2020: Lewis dies at the age of 80.
When did Lewis join Obama?
March 8, 2015: Lewis joins Obama, former President George W. Bush and thousands of others in Selma at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. June 22, 2016: Lewis leads a Democratic sit-in on the House floor to protest inaction on gun control measures.
How many times was Lewis reelected?
Nov. 4, 1986: Lewis is elected to Congress representing Georgia’s 5th District, which includes much of Atlanta. He was re-elected 16 times, most recently without opposition in 2018. Only once did he receive less than 70% of the vote.
When did Lewis become a president?
Later that year he is appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct ACTION, a federal volunteer agency. Oct. 6, 1981: Lewis wins his first political office with his election as a member of the Atlanta City Council, where he serves until 1986.
When did John Lewis march?
March 21-25, 1965 : Lewis joins thousands of others during the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. John Lewis, far right, is seen with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fourth from left, and a crowd of several thousand others, marching to the courthouse in Montgomery, Ala., March 17, 1965.
What did Lewis do at his funeral?
At Lewis’s request, on the day of his funeral, The New York Times published a valedictory essay in which Lewis lauded the Black Lives Matter movement and provided marching orders for future activists, saying in part:
Who is John Lewis?
John Lewis, in full John Robert Lewis, (born February 21, 1940, near Troy, Alabama, U.S.—died July 17, 2020, Atlanta, Georgia), American civil rights leader and politician best known for his chairmanship of ...
When did civil rights leaders meet?
American civil rights leaders meeting with government officials at the White House on the day of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.
Who led the protests in Selma?
Led by King and by John Lewis of SNCC, some 40,000 protesters from all over the country marched from Selma to Montgomery, the Alabama state capital. Shortly thereafter Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which eliminated all discriminatory qualifying tests for voter registrants and provided for the appointment…
Who was the speaker of the House at Lewis' funeral?
At his funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (King’s home parish), Lewis was eulogized by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, pioneer of nonviolent resistance James Lawson, and three former U.S. presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
What was John Lewis's life like in 2020?
The documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020) chronicles his life and career. In July 2020, after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Lewis died. Called the “conscience of Congress,” he became the first African American lawmaker to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. capitol.
What is Lewis's book called?
His memoirs are Walking with the Wind (1998; cowritten with Michael D’Orso) and the March trilogy (2013, 2015, and 2016; all cowritten with Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell), a graphic novel series for young adults that was based on Lewis’s experiences in the civil rights movement.
What cancer did John Lewis have?
In late December, Georgia Rep. John Lewis said he was "clear-eyed" about what it meant to be recently diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer — an illness that, for many people, means death within months.
Who said "Let's see if we can't both"?
RELATED: Alex Trebek Tells John Lewis 'Let's See If We Can't Both' Survive Amid Pancreatic Cancer Treatment
Who rejects Trump's Attorney General pick?
RELATED: John Lewis Rejects Trump's Attorney General Pick — 'Forces Want to Take Us Back to Another Place'