Extending the Fight
This Black History month, who are the historical and current significant African American figures we should be celebrating? Do we want to praise multi-talented visionaries like Donald Glover, boisterous champions like Muhammad Ali or inspirational philanthropists like Robert Smith? The answer to all of these should be yes; these, among others, are all people who significantly impacted the world and those around them. They all led lives that emulated so many quality attributes and left incredible legacies for future generations. However, there is a man in the House of Representatives with courage and resolve that we should all strive to follow. His name is John Lewis.
Lewis was born in 1940 and grew up in rural Alabama. He experienced some of the worst discrimination America had to offer at that time including his experience attending a segregated public school. Having faced racism firsthand, he set out to make a change while at Fisk University. He became involved in several protests as a student, such as the Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, both of which led him to be arrested and brutally beaten numerous times. Nevertheless, he continued his protests, culminating in the strength and resolve in him becoming chairman of the influential Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The SNCC helped organize famous protests like the Selma to Montgomery March that turned into “Bloody Sunday” and the March on Washington–punctuated by Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” of which Lewis is the last remaining living speaker.
After his time as chairman of the SNCC, Lewis transitioned into a number of roles, including being the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP) and being elected to the Atlanta City Council. He eventually decided to extend his fight for human rights by moving to Congress, being elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 and continuing to serve Georgia’s 5th District since then. He has been one of the most consistently liberal figures in the House and was one of the first Representatives to publicly endorse Obama during his run for President in 2008. He was publicly recognized for his life’s work in 2011 when then-President Obama awarded him with the highest honor a civilian can receive: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. Even though this award can’t possibly encapsulate everything that Lewis achieved during his life, it serves as a reminder to all of us of what a lifetime of service and courage can look like.
Gabriel Zita is a junior studying psychology.