Following the death of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Friday, fellow activists took to social media late Friday and early Saturday to pay tribute to his life and memory.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, who in 1965 participated alongside Lewis in the famous protest march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery to demand voting rights protection for Black Americans, called the congressman "the gift that kept on the giving" and the "valedictorian" of the class of civil rights leaders who "broke out of the bubble of segregation in the 1960s."
Andrew Young, another early civil rights leader who previously represented the same Georgia district as Lewis in Congress and later served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the mayor of Atlanta, lauded his friend's ability to always remain calm, grounded, and humble, even in heated situations. Young said Lewis didn't have a "trace of arrogance or hubris about him."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rev. Al Sharpton called Lewis his role model and said "he changed the world without hate, rancor, arrogance," while Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Martin Luther King Jr., said Lewis "was an American treasure" who "gave a voice to the voiceless."
-
How will the new Repayment Assistance Plan for student loans work?the explainer The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will replace existing income-driven repayment plans
-
In the Spotlight Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been at odds with US forces
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black KeysFeature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
