Congressman John Lewis' legacy runs deep in Central Georgia
Local civil rights leader Judge Billy Randall and his family reflect on Lewis' service and its relevance today.
'A foot soldier in the army for the fight for freedom and equality'
Georgia Congressman John Lewis is a fighter. He has fought for civil rights and voting rights, but now, he could be in his toughest battle yet -- the fight against stage IV pancreatic cancer.
Macon native Judge Billy Randall knows the fighter well. Judge Randall, his wife Lauretta, and their oldest daughter Dawn marched with the then-civil rights leader in 1965. It was March 7 of that year when Lewis and other young civil rights activists led a group of marchers from Selma, Alabama to the state capitol in Montgomery to bring attention to the lack of voting rights for blacks.
Police with clubs, whips, and tear gas met the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The day would become known as "Bloody Sunday." Even in the midst of all that violence, a friendship was forming between the Randalls and Lewis.
Mrs. Randall remembers the first time she met Lewis.
“He was the first one to tell me, 'Don't get on that elevator, get on that one,' and he introduced himself. He was just a really nice guy,” said Lauretta.
“He was not a huge physical presence,” says Judge Randall, “But he had a mighty big heart.”
Those 1965 marches fueled the landmark voting rights legislation and propelled Lewis's civil rights work, which eventually led to a political career.
He's served in Congress more than 30 years, and Judge Randall believes that will and determination Lewis showed more than 50 years ago in Selma will help him battle cancer.
“John is going to go to that Capitol, go to his house seat as long as he can move. He's not going to shirk his duties,” said Judge Randall.
As that early generation of civil rights leaders like Lewis and Randall age, it seems natural to reflect on their legacy and where their vision goes from here.
PHOTOS: US Congressman John Lewis
Judge Randall’s daughter and former state lawmaker Nikki Randall realizes the importance of their works then, and now.
“Had it not been for John Lewis and Martin Luther King, my dad, my grandfather, those things that I've had the opportunity to do, those places I've had the opportunity to go, even opportunities to serve, I wouldn't have had them.”
Back in December, John Lewis shared the news of his diagnosis, saying, "I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now."
He asks for prayers during the journey.
A profile of John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (born February 21, 1940) is an American politician and civil rights leader. He is the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving in his 17th term in the House, having served since 1987, and is the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. His district includes the northern three-fourths of Atlanta. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community action programs during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The following year, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Hosea Williams, another notable Civil Rights leader, and John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as "Bloody Sunday." News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated South helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
He is a member of the Democratic Party leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and has served as a Chief Deputy Whip since 1991 and Senior Chief Deputy Whip since 2003.
Lewis has been awarded many honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards from eminent national and international institutions, including the highest civilian honor of the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On December 29, 2019, it was announced that Lewis is receiving treatment for Stage IV pancreatic cancer.
John Lewis pens third autobiographical graphic novel (2016 archive story)
By Michael King, ATLANTA (WXIA) – US Congressman John Lewis is considered one of the living icons of the American Civil Rights movement, having been present through the 1960s and into the 21st Century.
Lewis has helped pen a series of graphic novels that, in the first two volumes, has taken the story of his life from his youth in the segregated South in the 1940s and 50s, through his formative years and ecumenical education in the late 50s, leading to his drive for non-violent change in the early 1960s.
Called March, volumes one and two of this lushly illustrated graphic novel series take Lewis’ recollections and bring them to life never before.
Top Shelf Productions released Book One of March in 2013 to large scale critical acclaim – being named one of the best books of 2013 by USA Today, the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book, Paste, Slate, Comics Alliance, Amazon and Apple iBooks.
It was nominated for the Glyph Award, three Will Eisner Awards, it was named one of Reader’s Digest’s Graphic Novels Every Grown-Up Should Read.
It was a #1 title on both the New York Times and Washington Post bestseller lists.
US Congressman John Lewis' graphic novel, 'March'
It has been selected for first-year reading programs by Michigan State University, Marquette University and Georgia State University, among other schools. The New York City Public Schools has endorsed the volume as part of the ‘NYC Reads 365’ program.
A middle and high school Teacher’s Guide is available for free from the publisher for the volume.
Book Two of March was published in 2015, taking John Lewis from where we left him at the end of Book One in 1960 to the March on Washington in 1963, where he stood alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Book Two also won its share of awards, including the Street Literature Book Award Medal and the Denver Independent Comic & Art Expo Award. It was nominated for three Eisner Awards.
John Lewis’ story continues this summer as Book Three of March will be released in August 2016. The new volume will follow Lewis as he and a peaceful army of activists ultimately go to Alabama and a date with destiny, and an attempt to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. What happened next would shock the world and change history.
Lewis’ co-writer on all three volumes of March is Andrew Aydin, who is not only Lewis’ digital director, but a lifelong comic book fan himself. After having learned that Lewis himself had been a comic book fan of sorts, and after a conversation about the influence of comics on young readers, the two decided to write a graphic novel about the civil rights era.
Award-winning artist Nate Powell has provided the visualization of Lewis’ words for all three volumes of March. Powell’s works include You Don’t Say, Any Empire, Swallow Me Whole, The Silence of Our Friends and The Lost Hero.
In addition to his award-winning graphic novel work, Powell has provided fulltime support for adults with developmental disabilities.
Along with the third volume of March, Top Shelf Productions is also releasing all three volumes of the graphic novel series in a single 3-volume hardcover edition.
In early May, Lewis, along with Aydin and Powell, talked to social studies teachers in New York City about "March," which is being added to the curriculum of nation's largest public school system, as part of an overall new program being developed by the New York City Department of Education, called "Passport to Social Studies."
Lessons from "March" will be included in the program's 8th grade curriculum in a format that will help engage students.
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