John Lewis reflects on the struggle against segregation in the 1960s. He discusses the moral imperative to fight against racial discrimination, the transformative power of nonviolence, and emphasizes the need for continued unity and progress.
John Robert Lewis was elected to Congress in 1986, serving in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. He held several leadership positions in the House, including Senior Chief Deputy Whip, and was a member of the House Ways and Committee as well as the Congressional Black Caucus. He earned degrees from the American Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk University. He began his career as a civil rights organizer in 1960 during the Nashville sit-in movement and as a Freedom Rider. He helped plan the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and rose to national prominence after he and Hosea Williams led the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, where he and other peaceful protestors were attacked and beaten on the Edmund Pettis bridge. His commitment to civil rights and social justice has been the hallmark of his career, and he has received multiple national and international awards for his work, including the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage” award, and a National Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2010. He wrote multiple best-selling books and continued his work in Congress as a human and civil rights advocate until he passed away on July 17, 2020 at the age of 80.
From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary “The Soul of America.” Based on Jon Meacham's bestseller that illuminates our present-day fraught political reality by exploring historical challenges including the women's suffrage movement, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, McCarthyism, and the fight for Civil Rights.
Subscribe for access to interviews, series, films, and educational materials that address issues of social justice, history, politics, the arts, and culture by spotlighting relatable human stories of purpose and meaning. Learn about our work and how to support our mission here: www.lifestories.org/. For extended versions of these interviews and more, visit: / @lifestoriesinterviewa...
Follow us on Instagram: / lifestoriesinterviews
John Lewis, Congressman and Civil Rights Activist
Interview Date: September 24, 2019
Interviewed by: Katie Davison
Total Running Time: 34 minutes
© Home Box Office and Kunhardt Film Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
#JohnLewis #kunhardtfilmfoundation