John Lewis: Civil Rights Leader

Improved Essays
Shadiamond Briney
Research Paper
7th ELA

Do you know John Lewis? John Lewis, an influential civil rights leader,and is recognized by most as one of the important leaders of the civil rights movement as a whole. John Lewis, an influential SNCC leader, attended segregated schools. In 1963 Lewis played a key role in the historic March On Washington making him an influential leader of the civil rights movement.

He was born near Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940, he grew up in an era of segregation. He was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., so he joined the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis was a Freedom Rider, he spoke at 1963's March on Washington and led the demonstration that became known as "Bloody Sunday." He was elected to congress in 1986 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
His family was sharecroppers.He was one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, he has continued to fight for people's rights since joining congress in 1987.After the March on Washington, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act became a law. However, this did not make it easier for African Americans to vote in the South. To bring attention to this struggle, Lewis and Hosea Williams led a march from Selma, Alabama, on March 7,
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Lewis was beaten and arrested experiences he would repeat often. After leaving the SNCC Lewis made his home in atlanta he remained active in the civil rights movement most notable as the director of the voter education project.In addition to numerous other honours he received, Lewis was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1975, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Spingarn Medal in 2002. In 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He coauthored the memoir Walking with the Wind in

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