Black US civil rights leader John Lewis lies in state
July 27, 2020
The veteran lawmaker and civil rights icon has been honored with a rare ceremony in the Capitol building's Rotunda. Nancy Pelosi described him as "the conscience of Congress."
Image: picture-alliance/Newscom/UPI Photo/M. A. McCoy
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The body of US Congressman John Lewis lied in state on Monday in the Capitol building in Washington. It is the first time the body of a Black lawmaker has laid in state in the Capitol's Rotunda, a rare ceremony reserved for the US' most prolific political leaders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the Democratic Party led a delegation to the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to greet Lewis' casket. She led a small ceremony to pay homage to the veteran activist and lawmaker.
"Congressman John Lewis was the conscience of the Congress," Pelosi said. "Today, we say goodbye to our friend and colleague, honoring his legacy of advancing freedom and justice for all."
Speaking to DW, Congressman Al Green praised Lewis as "the conscience and the moral compass of Congress." Green described Lewis as a person "who had his heritage in slavery but made his way to Congress not because he was writing great legislation, but because people knew that there needed to be a righteous voice."
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, restrictions were in place that limited the number of people in attendance the Rotunda ceremony. His body will later be moved to the steps on the Capitol's east side for public viewing.
Lewis paid his respect to Elijah Cummings of Baltimore in the Capitol last year, the first African-American to lie in state in the building, but that ceremony was not in the RotundaImage: Getty Images/M. Mara
At the age of 25, Lewis led hundreds of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the Alabama city of Selma, where he was nearly beaten to death by state troopers.
Even in his later years, Lewis pushed for racial and economic justice. On the heels of nationwide protests triggered by the police killing of Black American George Floyd, Lewis spearheaded police reform efforts.
"I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive," Lewis said in a tweet in May.
Commemorations for Lewis are expected to last six days. The week of commemorations will end with a private funeral at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, which was once led by renowned civil rights activist and pastor Martin Luther King Jr.
ls/msh (dpa, AFP)
#BlackLivesMatter: Key figures in the US civil rights movement
The body of late civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis will lie in state at the US Capitol. But who, exactly, was Lewis? And which other figures played a divisive role in the US civil rights movement?
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
'Necessary trouble'
The image of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, who died on July 17, is projected onto the statue of Confederate Robert Lee in Richmond, Virginia. A champion of non-violent protest, he attended the 1963 March on Washington and played a key role in abolishing racial segregation. He famously declared: "Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Helber
'A voteless people is a hopeless people'
Amelia Boynton Robinson was a civil rights pioneer who fought for voting rights for African Americans. She helped organize a 5-day civil rights march from the city of Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in March 1965. During the protest, Robinson and others were brutally beaten by state police. Images of what became known as Bloody Sunday went around the world.
Image: Getty Images/S. Lovekin
'The right man and the right place'
Thurgood Marshall, pictured here in 1957, was the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court. Announcing his pick, US President Lyndon B. Johnson declared it was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." Marshall, who was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, successfully fought against the racial segregation of US schools and universities.
Rosa Parks made history, when on December 1, 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Her subsequent arrest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, led by Martin Luther King. The 385 days of protest proved effective when on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling declaring segregated busses unconstitutional in Alabama and Montgomery.
Image: picture alliance/Everett Collection
'I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land'
Martin Luther King at Memphis' Lorraine Motel, on the day of his killing on April 4, 1968. One day earlier, King famously said: "I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land." Also pictured (to King's left): Civil rights activist Hosea Williams and Baptist minister Jesse Jackson, to his right, Ralph Abernathy.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Civil Rights Ambassador Young
Andrew Jackson Young was in Memphis, Tennessee, on the day of Martin Luther King’s murder. The politician, civil rights leader, and clergyman had joined King in leading the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1967, President-elect Jimmy Carter nominated Young as the US ambassador to the United Nations. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Atlanta.
Image: Getty Images/D. Oulds
'We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us'
Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X (left), rejected Martin Luther King’s notion of non-violent protest. He was portrayed by actor Denzel Washington (right) in Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic "Malcolm X." Once the African American leader of Nation of Islam, he later abandoned the organization, becoming one of its most fervent critics. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965.
'My faith in the Constitution is whole'
Barbara Jordan was the first woman and the first African American keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention. In 1974, the attorney, legislator, and educator declared in the House of Representatives that "my faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total."
Image: Getty Images/Keystone/Hulton Archive
A jazz and civil rights icon
Ella Fitzgerald, born in a New York suburb in 1917, was not only a jazz but also a civil rights icon. Fitzgerald, who won 13 Grammys and sold some 40 million records, always insisted musicians touring with her be treated equally, regardless of their skin color. She was the first African American woman to perform at Los Angeles’ Mocambo night club after actress Marilyn Monroe publicly backed her.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Strong, black women
Novelist Alice Walker became involved in the US civil rights movement in the 1960s. She was just 17 when she joined the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Walker’s novels feature strong, black women. And her work The Color Purple won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983.
Image: Getty Images/H. Brace
An outspoken activist
Baptist minister Al Sharpton speaking at George Floyd’s funeral service. In 2004, Sharpton was a Democratic candidate for the presidential race. Two years later, in 2006, he led a protest march in honor of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old African American who had been shot dead by police. Al Sharpton is an outspoken and at times controversial activist.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Gonzalez
Kings of hope
US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visited a Washington homeless shelter in January 2017, where they helped finish a mural of Martin Luther King. Obama was the first-ever African American to be elected president of the United States.
