Rep. Lewis
John Lewis is the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th district and an American icon known for his role in the civil rights movement. He first joined as a seminary student in Nashville and soon became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as one of the Big Six national leaders, alongside such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph. As SNCC chairman, Lewis was an architect of, and the youngest featured speaker at, the historic 1963 March on Washington and was a key figure in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. Despite physical attacks, serious injuries and more than 40 arrests, Rep. Lewis has remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. For his lifelong commitment to service, he was the first recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Lifetime Achievement Award and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2011.