John Lewis The Civil Rights Titan Dies Aged 80

John Robert Lewis who devoted his life to the fight for racial equality died on Friday July 17, 2020 at the age of 80. He was born February 21, 1940 near Troy Alabama as the third of ten children of Willie Mae and Eddie Lewis. His last public appearance was on the 7th of June at the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, a few days after recording a virtual town hall with former president Barack Obama. In 1963, as chairman of SNCC John Robert Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders who organized the March on Washington where he was the youngest speaker, the occasion of Dr. Martin Luther King's celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech. Jon Robert Lewis has a life commitment to what he calls “good trouble” that had real consequences for him over the years. He was arrested at least 45 times, most recently while protesting on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. On March 7, 1965 State troopers beat Lewis and fractured his skull as he led 600 protesters over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama in a landmark event which became known as Bloody Sunday.