US presidents honor civil rights pioneer John Lewis
July 30, 2020
The late US civil rights leader John Lewis has been honored by three former presidents in a funeral ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia. Barack Obama gave a eulogy in which he condemned the use of troops against protesters.
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Veteran US lawmaker and civil rights leader John Lewis was mourned and remembered on Thursday in Atlanta, in a funeral service in which three former US presidents were in attendance.
The final service for the longtime member of the US House of Representatives was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, a church with historic significance for many in the US civil rights movement.
The Black congressman will now be laid to rest in his home city of Atlanta.
Obama condemns use federal agents
Former President Barack Obama was present at the funeral ceremony and delivered a eulogy in which he praised the civil rights activist for his "resilient persistence" in the fight against inequality and racism. Obama called Lewis one of the "founding fathers" of a better, fairer America.
Without mentioning the current president by name, Obama also used the moment to condemn President Donald Trump's decision to deploy federal agents against protesters in Portland, Oregon and other US cities.
"Today we witness with our own eyes, police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans," Obama said. "We can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators."
The former president said Lewis served as an example for how to fight for democracy.
"As long as we have breath in our bodies, we have to continue his cause," he said.
'The moral compass of Congress'
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A double rainbow in Washington
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also gave eulogies, as did Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
"He always believed in preaching the Gospel in word and in deed, insisting that hate and fear had to be answered with love and hope," said former President George W. Bush.
Pelosi recalled how a double rainbow appeared while Lewis' body was lying in state at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week.
"He was telling us, 'I'm home in heaven, I'm home in heaven.'," Pelosi said. "We always knew he worked on the side of angels, and now he is with them.''
#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.