Featured | Written by: On Common Ground News
U.S. Rep. John Lewis will appear for a public presentation on Jan. 20, 5:30 p.m., at Brenau University’s Pearce Auditorium, 202 Boulevard in Gainesville, Georgia.
Lewis, one of the most significant figures of the American Civil Rights Movement, will conduct a book signing for the book he has co-authored, “MARCH.” The book will be available for those who wish to purchase a copy.
There is no charge for admission. However, seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis to the public after members of the Brenau Women’s College first-year class are seated. The students collectively read the Georgia congressional delegation dean’s illustrated book MARCH as an assignment for their required seminar for all members of the Class of 2019.
Lewis’ appearance at Brenau occurs during the week celebrating the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis served as one of King’s chief lieutenants during the 1960s for field work and demonstrations throughout the Southeast. For example, he was a key leader in and on the front line of the pivotal 1965 voter rights demonstration and march that culminated in Selma, Alabama, when police mounted on horseback attacked and clubbed the peaceful participants. He is the last surviving member of the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders who helped put together King’s famous March on Washington in 1963.
“It is a great honor for our institution to host Congressman Lewis on this occasion,” said Brenau University President Ed Schrader. “He is a true American hero who has shed blood and dedicated his life to public service and to win basic human rights for all.”
The university’s first-year seminar for the 2015-16 academic year focused on the Civil Rights era, with Lewis’ best-seller book as a central text. It is part of a planned three-volume set using the graphic novel approach to storytelling that was co-authored by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, the congressman’s technology policy aide, and illustrated by Indiana artist Nate Powell. The first volume chronicles Lewis’ early years, from his childhood on a sharecropper farm in Pike County, Alabama, to his ascension to the chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1963.
While attending Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Lewis organized a series of sit-ins to protest segregation policies. Along with Diane Nash, who has also appeared at Brenau, he was a founding member of the Freedom Riders who traveled throughout the South in the 1960s in support of school integration, and he marched with King in Selma.
Lewis has represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District since 1987. The seat previously had been held by another civil right movement leader, Andrew Young, who would subsequently serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta. In his election bid, he defeated another long-time friend and colleague from the movement, Julian Bond, who died in 2015 after a career that included service in both houses of the Georgia Legislature, founding the Southern Poverty Law Center and a 12-year run as chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“This is such an amazing opportunity to show our students the importance of history and how it directly impacts their lives,” said Jordan Anderson, director of Brenau’s International Studies and Programs. “The greatest lesson that they can take away from his life is that their voice does matter and they really can change the world for the better.”
Lewis was in the news last week when U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a Mississippi native, announced that the first of a new class of Navy ships will be named for him. The Defense Department will award the contract for the USNS John Lewis next summer with construction expected to begin in 2018.