Rest In Power To The Most High: John Robert Lewis

After a battle with Cancer,American Politician and Civil Rights leader John Robert Lewis, has died at the age 80.

A Georgia Democrat and Civil Rights Icon, continually represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District, since taking office in 1987. Lewis who lived in Atlanta,Georgia has one son John Miles and was born on February 21, 1940 to sharecroppers in Troy,Alabama. As well as attended segregated public schools, Montgomery Bus Boycott, and broadcast his inspiration for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As a student at Fisk University , John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunches counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, Which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the south. Similarly, he and others were beaten severely by angry mobs, and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.

( Photo : Jimmy Ellis/File/The Tennessean)

By 1963, Lewis was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) , which he helped form and became a Architect at the age 23. After that, John Lewis and Hosea Williams ( another notable Civil Rights Leader) led over 600 peaceful protesters across the Edmund Pettus in Selma, Alabama on March 7,1965. The March was intended to last from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, but the marchers were attacked by Alabama State Troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as "Bloody Sunday".

Even after plenty of arrest and serial injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate for nonviolence, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of action.

Lastly, John Lewis holds a B.A In Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University and graduated of the American Baptist Theological Seminary, Both in Nashville Tennessee. He's been awarded over 50 honorary degrees throughout the United States, and let alone Co-Author of the National book award winning and #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, for MARCH book 1-3.

"It is the power in the way of peace, the way of love," Lewis said. "We must never, ever hate. The way of love is a better way."

#RestInPowerJohnLewis

Research: JohnLewis.com