Paved the Path: High Places

John Robert Lewis was born February 21 1940 on the out skits of Troy Alabama. He was the son of a sharecropper and his mother was Meline Thas and as a child he lived on his family’s farm. He also went to a segregated public school in Pike County. As a child he already experienced the harsh rules of racism of the down south. But he felt inspired by the sufficient movement of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (when African Americans refused to take the bus because of what happen to Rosa Parks). He also felt inspiration from the late great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When listening to Dr. King’s words on the radio he knew that he should help the cause. There were serial other accounts, such as. When he was ten and wanted to rent out a book the librarian blatantly told him that, books were for whites not blacks.
After High school John went to American Baptist Theological Seminary and at Fisk University. He studied as a student Lewis studied the philosophy and discipline of non-violence. He studied people such as Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi. While attending Fisk, John organized a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Nashville, Tennessee. By the spring of 1960 he was the main leader in other Nashville sit-ins. In the sit-ins people would put lit cigarettes down their back or coffee or hot water. But they say claim and orderly. All of the students were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

He suffered a fractured skull at the hands of Alabama State police. And before he knew it the sit-ins were going around the whole the south. On May 1 1961 in Washington DC Lewis took part in the Freedom rides. The rides were organized because of a Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate travel. He was risking a lot to partake in the rides angry people would wait for the riders ready to abuse them. But Lewis became known when he orchestrated the Selma to Montgomery marches. There purpose was to march for the right to vote. At that time blacks had to pass a literacy test before voting, on top of that most of them were not even registered to vote. There were three marches in all, the first march was called “Blood Sunday”. A week after "Bloody Sunday," Lewis said President Lyndon Johnson spoke to a joint session of Congress and the nation.
Later Lewis joined Dr. King any many others in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. From 1963 to 1966 Lewis was named chairman of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) which he helped form. When they reached Washington and some people made speeches such as Dr. King and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis was the youngest to speak. In 1977 Lewis ran for elective office and lost. With no job and penniless from his campaign he agreed to be associate director of ACTION for the Carter administration. In 1986 he ran for U.S Senate and won against Wyche Fowler. He is currently a United States House of Representatives from Georgia 5th district.

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