Obama pays tribute to late Georgia Rep. John Lewis on 4th anniversary of his death
Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) is photographed in his offices in the Canon House office building on March 17, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images)
CHICAGO - Former President Barack Obama is paying tribute to the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.
Lewis' bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in Selma in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation. By that time he was a major leader in the Civil Rights Movement, having helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and spoken at the March on Washington just before Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Lewis went on to be elected to the Atlanta City Council and then to a long career in Congress, where he was frequently hailed as a moral leader.
The longtime Georgia lawmaker died at the age of 80 in 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
In remembrance of Lewis on the fourth anniversary of his death, Obama posted a message and photo of the two of them on X, formerly Twitter, saying that Lewis "dedicated his life to freedom, justice, and equality – inspiring generations of Americans, including me, to try and live up to his example."
The former president also announced that the plaza at the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago will bear Lewis's name to honor his legacy.