In the 1960s, the complexion of the United States was markedly different than today. The difference wasn’t necessarily in colors or population numbers. Back then, Blacks were about 11 percent of the population. Today they represent around 12 percent.
The major difference was overt treatment. In 1963, segregation was still significant. Separate waiting rooms, restrooms, amenities and more were present, particularly in the south. To protest racial disparity, nonviolent black-and-white Freedom Riders boarded busses and rode to southern states. In DC, the 1963 March on Washington was designed to bring national attention to the issue. A quarter million people attended the march on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.
The march may have raised some awareness but true action didn’t happen until a year later. In June 1964, it was learned three civil rights workers, two white and one black, named Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney disappeared in Mississippi. Six weeks later, the men’s bodies were found in an earthen dam near Longdale, Mississippi. That finally got the nation’s attention....
One of the original Freedom Riders and key speaker at the 1963 Washington march was a young black man in his early 20s named John Lewis. Born in 1940 to Alabama sharecroppers, when Lewis was 15, he heard Martin Luther King on the radio. That was a game changer. Lewis went on to meet King and Rosa Parks in the late-‘50s.
In 1961, Lewis rode on a Freedom Rider bus to New Orleans where he was beaten and arrested. That strengthened his resolve. In 1965, Lewis spearheaded the voter registration march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. On what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” Lewis was beaten again, this time by Alabama State Troopers.
These publicized actions began to have an effect. The federal government was pressured to enforce a ban on racial segregation on public transportation. In the south it continued to be a slow road. However, the growing number of Black voters began to work in their favor.
Lewis’ commitment to equality also continued to grow. He became the face of the Nashville Student Movement and then the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He went on to become executive director of the Voter Education Project and associate director of the organization coordinating the Peace Corps and VISTA.
His initial foray into politics came as a member of the Atlanta City Council. After that, it never stopped.
Lewis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Georgia in 1986. He soon successfully proposed legislation needed to secure the Civil Rights Act of 1991. He then sponsored a bill creating the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail – one he knew all-too-well. That was followed by his key role in establishing the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall where he spoke decades before.
In a 2019 address to the House of Representatives, Lewis reminded the nation: “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, do something. Our children and their children will ask us: ‘What did you do? What did you say?’” It’s not surprising his congressional colleagues gave him the moniker, “the conscience of the Congress.”
Over the years, Lewis was awarded over 50 honorary degrees for his actions and commitment to doing what was right. He also coined the popular term “good trouble” referring to his days actively disrupting and protesting civil wrongs. A pinnacle of his efforts was realized in 2011, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Lewis died in 2020 but is posthumously receiving another high honor. In just under a month, at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a new First Class “Forever” postage stamp will be released honoring the legacy of Lewis and featuring his image.
Lewis was well known for his serious, stoic and almost bulldog-type expression that came from his days as a civil rights warrior. That “look” began in 1960s mug shot photos after his arrests. His defining appearance of defiant resignation is seen in the photo on the new “Forever” postage stamp.
The stamp will be officially released on July 21, at Morehouse in a ceremony open to the public. First Day of Issue cancels will be available on-site and by mail afterward. For more information about the collector cancellations, log onto www.USPS.gov.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.