Civil Rights Leader & Icon, Rep. John Lewis, has Died at Age 80

Congressman John Lewis, considered one of the last living Civil Rights leaders and Icons, has passed away after a battle with Pancreatic Cancer.

What We Know:

• Lewis, 80, was diagnosed with the illness during a routine medical visit.  “This month in a routine medical visit, and subsequent tests, doctors discovered Stage IV pancreatic cancer. This diagnosis has been reconfirmed,” Lewis stated in a press release shared on December 29, 2019.

• Lewis served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District beginning in November 1986 but has been serving his community and the civil rights of others since the 1960s.  His district included most of Atlanta.
• In recent months, Lewis has spoken out about the protests happening across the country after George Floyd’s death.

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. https://t.co/YbB14dgzr9

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) May 30, 2020

• Lewis also vehemently opposed the student visa policy the Trump administration was attempting to push due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms what millions of Americans already knew: The current administration is so determined to wage a hateful campaign against immigrant families and communities that it makes cruel and arbitrary decisions that break the law https://t.co/Fis46ZkCCi

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) June 19, 2020

• A full biography can be viewed here.  A documentary, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE, on Lewis’ “60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration” was released July 2020 and is available on-demand and multiple streaming platforms.

Lewis’ wife passed in 2012 and he is survived by his only son, John Miles, and a long-standing legacy of interviews, books, and other countless works.  He will be sadly missed and our thoughts and prayers are with his son and loved ones.