Heros in the Civil Rights - William Fremd High School

Information on John Lewis
Student Handout •
John Lewis joined the front lines of
the civil rights movement in his early
twenties. Lewis was born in 1940 and
raised with a strict and serious faith by
sharecropper parents in poor Pike County,
Alabama. A Christian preacher-intraining,
John delivered his first sermons
at the age of five to the 60 chickens
owned by his family. Mer high school,
he enrolled in the American Baptist
Theological Seminary for training.
However, his interest in the civil
rights movement's public "Christian
conscience" soon outweighed his interest
in private religion, and he eagerly got involved. Lewis joined the sit-in demonstrations in
1960, staying up nights to draft training memos on the "dos and don'ts" of nonviolent
protest. He soon became a student leader, demonstrating for others how to sit straight at
./-- lunch counters during desegregation attempts, and how to strictly refrain from cursing,
laughing, conversing, or striking back at anyone. Lewis then embarked on the 1961 Freedom
Rides to desegregate the bus system, facing repeated arrests and bloody beatings by white
segregationists at interstate bus terminals.
• Where did John Lewis grow up?
• Why did he join the civil rights movement?
• What demonstrations did he participate in?
Lewis was a passionate and powerful speaker. In August 1963, he spoke to 250,000
Americans assembled in Washington DC during the March on Washington. By then he was
23 years old and had been jailed 20 times. Lewis had prepared an angry speech criticizing
President Kennedy's administration for its lack of attention to the civil rights cause. Though
he was persuaded by more moderate civil rights leaders to tone down his address, he spoke
out boldly for better pay, protection from police brutality, and voting rights. That year, Lewis
became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC
(pronounced "snick"), an organization devoted to organizing rural black communities. Lewis
dedicated himself to marches and voter registration drives in the most segregated towns in
the Deep South, subjecting himself to arrests, attacks, and life threats.
• What did Lewis do during the March on Washington?
• How many times had Lewis been jailed by the time he was 23?
• What organization did Lewis become leader or?
© Teachers' Curriculum Institute USH-12-5, Activity 2.3, Page 15