LIBERTY – On Thursday, July 17 join We Are One Sullivan, NAACP Chapter 2187-B, the Committee for Equity and Justice and Rural and Migrant Ministry for a joyful celebration of the courage and commitment of Congressman John Lewis on the fifth anniversary of his passing. The event, part of a national day of nonviolent action, will take place from 6-7:30pm at Hanofee Park in Liberty. Speakers will include Emmy award-winning journalist and historian Janus Adams, the Reverend Douglas Bowman of Grace Lutheran Church and Maria Christina Martinez, an experienced organizer who currently serves on the National Advisory Board of Project Groundwork.

Congressman Lewis famously asked us to get into “good trouble, necessary trouble to help redeem the soul of America.” He spent the final years of his life fighting to protect the right to vote. This is our moment to carry the torch, continue his legacy, and pass it forward to future generations. Voter registration and voter information will be available at the event.

About John Lewis

Born in 1940, Lewis was inspired to work for equal rights by the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56. He learned about non-violent protest at Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, organized sit-ins and participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961. As chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis helped to plan the 1964 March on Washington and at that march, he spoke powerfully by saying “We all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about.” 

In 1965, Lewis and Hosea Williams led the now-famous march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he was brutally beaten and suffered a fractured skull at the hands of the Alabama State Troopers. The day became known as Bloody Sunday and, along with other protests and events, led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which outlawed discriminatory voting practices common to the South and the established federal examiners to enforce the Act. It required federal preclearance of any changes to voting laws, ensuring the right to vote for many. 

He continued organizing through work with the Field Foundation, and his leadership in the Voter Education project led to millions of new voter registrations. Lewis became a US Congressman in 1987 and served until his death in 2020. After the Supreme Court gutted provisions of the Voting Rights Act in its decision in Shelby County v Holder, some states began to enact discriminatory voting laws, particularly after the 2020 elections. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act was first introduced in 2021 and has been re-introduced each year since then. It would restore and modernize the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.