John Lewis
John Robert Lewis was born to sharecropper parents in Troy, Alabama. As a child, he preached to the chickens on his family's farm. Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he became one of the original Freedom Riders at age 21 and the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington.
On March 7, 1965 — Bloody Sunday — Lewis led 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers fractured his skull. The images shocked the nation and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Lewis served in the U.S. Congress for 33 years, representing Georgia's 5th district. He was arrested over 40 times in acts of civil disobedience and never stopped fighting for voting rights, human dignity, and what he called "the beloved community." He continued making "good trouble" until his death in 2020.
"Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."— John Lewis
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