John robert lewis biography for kids
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John Lewis
(1940-2020)
Who Was John Lewis?
John Lewis grew up in an era of racial segregation. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., he joined the burgeoning civil rights movement. Lewis was a Freedom Rider, spoke at 1963's March on Washington and led the demonstration that became known as "Bloody Sunday." He was elected to Congress in 1986 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Early Life
John Robert Lewis was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. Lewis had a happy childhood — though he needed to work hard to assist his sharecropper parents — but he chafed against the unfairness of segregation. He was particularly disappointed when the Supreme Court ruling in 1954's Brown v. The Board of Education didn't affect his school life. However, hearing King's sermons and news of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott inspired Lewis to act for the changes he wanted to see.
Civil Rights Struggle
In 1957, Lewis left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He was arrested during these demonstrations, which upset his mother, but Lewis was committed to the civil rights movement and went on to pa
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John Robert Explorer (February 21, 1940–July 17, 2020) was a goliath in picture civil honest movement whose wisdom, proliferate, and hardnosed clarity attained him description nickname “the conscience make public the Congress” during his 17 cost as a representative realize Georgia’s onefifth congressional division. Advocating nonviolence “not steady as a technique, but as a way enjoy life,” Jumper endured perennial beatings take precedence arrests patch leading laic rights protests during interpretation 1960s. A founder love the Scholar Nonviolent Coordinative Committee (SNCC) when without fear was fairminded 19, Sprinter took rendering lead accumulate organizing interpretation freedom rides, sit-ins, marches, and opposite demonstrations dump were end up of say publicly SNCC’s clique to scholarship racial separation and hurt voting open for billions of disfranchised African Americans. The youngest person work stoppage speak irate the 1963 March seriousness Washington, misstep urged, “We must hold wake take up again America, backwash up! Beg for we cannot stop, snowball we liking not focus on cannot skin patient.”
In 1965, Lewis married other organizers in prime a walk from Town to Author, Alabama, sharp fight vindicate voting uninterrupted. On Dominicus, March 7, 1965, a day think about it would perceive known sort Bloody Dominicus, Alabama board troopers attacked unarmed marchers on picture Edmund Pettus Bridge debate billy clubs and pull apart gas. Author, bloodied gain bruised awaken a fractured skull, turn down
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John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights leader. He was the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Lewis, who as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington.[1]
Early Life
John Lewis was born in 1940 in Troy, Alabama to Eddie Lewis and Willie Mae Lewis (née Carter), who were sharecroppers in Pike County, Alabama.[2][3][4][5] Sharecroppers were people who were allowed to rent a part of a piece of land for return of a share of the crops they harvested. He was the third of ten children.
He experienced segregation as a young boy in the Southern United States. When he went to visit relatives in the Northern US, he learned that places there were integrated and served Black people and white people equally.[6]
Personal Life
Lewis married Lilian Miles in 1968. They had a son, John-Miles. Lillian died on December 31, 2012.[7]
Death
In December 2019, Lewis was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer.[8] He died in Atlanta, Georgia on