Late U.S. Congressman John Lewis Lies In State In Capitol
He was the youngest and longest surviving speaker at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom movement, which culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Tuesday 28 July 2020 | 14:08
The U.S. national flag is seen at half-mast at the White House in tribute to John Lewis in Washington, D.C., the United States, on July 18, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Late U.S. congressman and civil rights figure John Lewis lay in state in the Capitol here on Monday.
Lewis, who died earlier this month at age 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, has become the first African American lawmaker in the nation's history to lie in state beneath the Capitol Rotunda.
In a ceremony, lawmakers paid tributes to Lewis, who had fought for voting rights throughout his 33 years in Congress.
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People mourn John Lewis, congressman representing the state of Georgia, near a mural of Lewis in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, July 19, 2020. (Photo by Alan Chin/Xinhua)
Born into a family of sharecroppers in 1940, Lewis was hailed for his leadership in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
A founder and early leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Lewis led protests against racial injustice in an era in which apartheid was still rampant in the American South.
He was the youngest and longest surviving speaker at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom movement, which culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
