The late Representative John Lewis, a civil rights hero who spent his life fighting for equality and justice, will be honored with a postage stamp next year, the US Postal Service announced Tuesday. The agency said it sought to celebrate Lewis’ legacy and His commitment to the protection of civil rights In Congress and beyond.
“Despite the hatred and violence, as well as some 45 arrests, Lewis remained steadfast in his commitment to what he liked to call ‘good trouble,'” the USPS said in a news release.
United States Postal Service
Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, served in Congress. for over three decades until his death in 2020 at the age of 80. His political career began after he was elected to the Atlantic City Council in 1981 and then to the House in 1986.
Prior to his political career, Lewis joined the Freedom Riders, and in 1963 became the youngest speaker at the March on Washington at only 21 years old.
He also led a march that would become known as “Bloody Sunday”. On March 7, 1965, protesters, including Lewis, were beaten by police while walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis’s skull was fractured.
The photograph of Lewis used on the stamp was taken by Marco Grob for Time magazine in 2013.
Lewis passed away in July 2020 At the age of 80.
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