- Collection:
- Reflections on Georgia Politics oral history collection, 2006-2010
- Title:
- John Lewis, 30 May 2012.
- Creator:
- Short, Bob, 1932
Lewis, John, 1940-2020 - Contributor to Resource:
- Short, Bob, 1932-
- Publisher:
- Athens, Ga. : Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Date of Original:
- 2012-05-30
- Subject:
- United States--Congress--House
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
Selma to Montgomery Rights March--(1965 :--Selma, Ala.)
Selma to Montgomery Rights March
Freedom Rides, 1961
Civil rights workers--Interviews
Civil rights movements--Georgia
Civil rights movements--Alabama
Legislators--Georgia
Legislators--United States
Civil rights movements
Civil rights workers
Legislators
Alabama
Georgia
United States - People:
- King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Williams, Hosea, 1926-2000
Lawson, James M., 1928-
Lewis, John, 1940-2020 - Location:
- United States, 39.76, -98.5
United States, Alabama, 32.75041, -86.75026
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018 - Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
interviews - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- In this interview John Lewis discusses his early years in rural Alabama and his work as a civil rights leader and U.S. Representative. He covers his early activism and education in non-violence in Nashville as a student of Fisk University's American Baptist Theological Seminary, his participitation in the Freedom Rides, and his work organizing demonstrations as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He discusses his relationships with other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Hosea Williams, and James Lawson, and his involvment in sit-ins and marches, including his experiences being assaulted and jailed. He also gives details about his experience in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.
Finding aid available in repository.
John Robert Lewis was born February 21, 1940 in Troy, Alabama. He graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became a leader in the Nashville sit-ins. While a student he was invited to participate in non-violence workshops in the basement of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church, and he later participated in the Freedom Rides. From 1963 to 1966, Lewis served as chairmen of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Along with Martin Luther King, Jr., he spoke at the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1964 he helped coordinate the "Freedom Summer" in Mississippi, a campaign to register black voters across the South. Lewis was a leader in the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, where, in Selma, he and other marchers were beaten and dispersed with tear gas by state troopers and deputized white citizens. The event, which came to be known as "Bloody Sunday," helped inspire the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. Lewis entered the political arena in 1981 when he earned a seat on the Atlanta City Council. In 1986 he successfully ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He would go on to be relected many times and serve in various leadership roles in the House Democratic caucus.
Interviewed by Bob Short. - Metadata URL:
- http://purl.libs.uga.edu/russell/RBRL220ROGP-139/ohms
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Resources may be used under the guidelines described by the U.S. Copyright Office in Section 107, Title 17, United States Code (Fair use). Parties interested in production or commercial use of the resources should contact the Russell Library for a fee schedule.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection, ROGP 139, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.
- Extent:
- 1 interview (40 min.) : sd., col.
- Original Collection:
- Reflections on Georgia Politics Oral History Collection
http://sclfind.libs.uga.edu/sclfind/view?docId=ead/RBRL220ROGP.xml - Contributing Institution:
- Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Rights:
-
