Congressman John Lewis to receive 87th Springarn Medal

New Crisis, The, May/Jun 2002

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) has been selected to receive the 87th NAACP Spingarn Medal. The announcement was made April 12. NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume, who served in Congress with Lewis, called him "one of America's true champions of freedom."

A distinguished leader in the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides that challenged segregation in interstate bus terminals and served as chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966. In 1965, he was one of the activists who led more than 600 nonviolent protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. State troopers attacked the marchers in a confrontation known as Bloody Sunday. The march, and similar subsequent efforts, led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lewis is serving his eighth term representing Georgia's fifth Congressional district, which includes the city of Atlanta. The Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest honor for achievement, will be presented to Lewis on July 11 at the NAACP 93rd annual convention in Houston.