Fight for voting rights intensifies as the nation marks one year since civil rights icon John Lewis’ death

John Lewis’ life in pictures

US Rep. John Lewis poses in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March 2018. The civil rights icon, who helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, was elected to Congress in 1987.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, right, and fellow student demonstrator James Bevel stand inside the door of a Nashville, Tennessee, restaurant during a sit-in protest in 1960. The manager turned on a fumigating machine to disrupt the sit-in.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis and James Zwerg, another Freedom Rider, stand together after being attacked by segregationists in Montgomery.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

This police mug shot of Lewis was taken in Jackson, Mississippi, after he used a restroom reserved for White people during the Freedom Ride movement.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis addresses the crowd during the 1963 March on Washington.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, in 1940. His father, Eddie, was a sharecropper.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

US President John F. Kennedy, fourth from right, meets with Lewis and other civil rights leaders after the 1963 March on Washington. Lewis is in the center, next to Martin Luther King Jr.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, reads a document in a New York office in 1964. The document was “We Shall Overcome; the Authorized Record of the March on Washington Produced by the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership.”

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, in the light coat, marches beside Hosea Williams as they lead other civil rights activists in the first march from Selma to Montgomery, protesting the lack of voting rights for Black citizens, on March 7, 1965. That day the march was violently ended by Alabama state troopers, an incident that is now known as “Bloody Sunday.”

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, Williams and other marchers face a line of state troopers blocking the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Alabama state troopers, swinging billy clubs, break up the Selma to Montgomery march on March 7, 1965. Lewis is being beaten in the foreground by a state trooper. He suffered a fractured skull. Troopers also fired tear gas, and troopers mounted on horses charged the protesters.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis walks with Martin Luther King Jr. and others during another Selma to Montgomery march later in the month. From left are Ralph David Abernathy, James Forman, King, the Rev. Jesse Douglas and Lewis.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, in the vest, joins King and King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, before a rally on the steps on the Alabama Capitol on March 25, 1965. A few months later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which ensured that everyone’s right to vote would be protected and enforced.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis and his wife, Lillian, attend a campaign rally in Atlanta in April 1977. He was running for Congress but lost the Democratic primary that year to Wyche Fowler Jr.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis speaks outside Atlanta City Hall in October 1982.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, running for Congress again, casts his ballot in Atlanta in September 1986. He won a runoff election in the Democratic primary, defeating Julian Bond. He easily won the general election in November.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

President Bill Clinton applauds in 2000 after leading marchers across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 35th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” With Clinton. from left, are the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King and John and Lillian Lewis.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis is comforted by Coretta Scott King during a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in August 2003. A plaque was unveiled there honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis poses for a photo at his offices in Washington, DC, in March 2009.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis is led away in handcuffs by a Secret Service officer in Washington, DC, as he protested Sudan’s Darfur conflict in April 2009.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

President Barack Obama awards Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. “All these years later, (Lewis) is known as the Conscience of the United States Congress, still speaking his mind on issues of justice and equality,” Obama said. “And generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind — an American who knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other time; whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.”

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis holds hands with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as Democrats participate in a walkout to protest a June 2012 vote on whether Attorney General Eric Holder was in contempt of Congress.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis acknowledges the crowd as he is driven around the diamond at an Atlanta Braves baseball game at Turner Field in August 2012.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis becomes emotional at the funeral services for his wife, Lillian, in January 2013. They were married for 44 years.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis and other members of Congress rally on the steps of the US Supreme Court in February 2013. They were joined by civil rights icons as the court prepared to hear oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, a legal challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis is joined by actress Gabrielle Union as the US Postal Service unveils a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis joins President Obama and his family on a march toward Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.”

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis holds hands with Obama and former President George W. Bush during the 50th anniversary event at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis recounts his experience in Selma to a group of students who had gathered on the House steps in April 2015.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Attorney General Eric Holder and his wife, Sharon Malone, share a moment with Lewis at the Department of Justice in April 2015. Holder, who was leaving office, thanked Lewis for influencing his career.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis sits with other Democrats on the House floor as they try to force a vote on gun control measures in June 2016. Lewis launched the sit-in protest in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, which at the time was the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

After the sit-in, Lewis is joined by Pelosi and US Reps. Jim Clyburn and Joe Crowley as Democrats sing a song outside the US Capitol.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis delivers a speech on the second day of the Democratic National Convention in July 2016.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis receives a standing ovation at the September 2016 opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. At left is President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis walks down the steps of the US Capitol in January 2017.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis stands with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, in April 2018.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis, standing next to actress Amandla Stenberg, speaks on stage during the Academy Awards in February 2019. He was introducing the movie “Green Book,” which went on to win best picture.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

In March 2019, Lewis walks through monuments honoring the victims of racial lynchings at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis prepares to pay his respects to US Rep. Elijah Cummings, who was lying in state in October 2019.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis is seen near a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. in the US Capitol rotunda.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis is assisted near Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge while attending a March 2020 ceremony marking the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” A few months earlier, Lewis’ office announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

John Lewis’ life in pictures

Lewis reads paperwork about election qualification in March 2020.

John Lewis’ life in pictures