![]() He was arrested during these demonstrations, which upset his mother, but Lewis was committed to the civil rights movement and went on to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961.įreedom Riders challenged the segregated facilities they encountered at interstate bus terminals in the South, which had been deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. In 1957, Lewis left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. ![]() However, hearing King's sermons and news of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott inspired Lewis to act for the changes he wanted to see. The Board of Education didn't affect his school life. He was particularly disappointed when the Supreme Court ruling in 1954's Brown v. Lewis had a happy childhood - though he needed to work hard to assist his sharecropper parents - but he chafed against the unfairness of segregation. John Robert Lewis was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. Lewis was a Freedom Rider, 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. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., he joined the burgeoning civil rights movement. ![]() John Lewis grew up in an era of racial segregation. ![]()
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