John Robert Lewis (1940-2020), a veteran of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by the citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1986. After his election, Lewis won reelection several times, representing Georgia's Fifth Congressional District. In 2011 Lewis was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama. He was also the first United States congressman to write a graphic novel.
Photo and text from Biography in Context
In 1960 a dean at Harvard Law School recommended one of his star pupils, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to serve as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. Though Frankfurter, like others familiar with Ginsburg, acknowledged her impeccable academic credentials, he confessed that he was not ready to hire a woman. This was neither the first nor the last instance where Ginsburg was defined by her gender rather than her formidable intellect. But the rejections galvanized in Ginsburg a fighting spirit to right the wrongs that women suffered so routinely in American society.
Photo and text from Biography in Context
U.S. Rep. John Lewis leads a march of thousands through the streets of Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, March 24, 2018. Participants in Atlanta and across the nation rallied against gun violence and in support of stricter gun control. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses highlights of the court's current term and the impending decision in the Affordable Care Act litigation as she addresses the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy convention in Washington, Friday, June 15, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., arrives to speak at a rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, in Washington. Tens of thousands of people marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and down the National Mall on Saturday, to commemorate King's famous ""I Have a Dream" speech, made Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, and pledging that his dream includes equality for gays, Latinos, the poor and the disabled. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg poses for a photo in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2013, before an interview with the Associated Press. Ginsburg said during the interview that it was easy to foresee that Southern states would push ahead with tougher voter identification laws and other measures once the Supreme Court freed them from strict federal oversight of their elections. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Bill Clinton and Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg walk along the Colonnades of the White House on Monday, June 14, 1993 in Washington as they head to the Rose Garden for a news conference. The president nominated Ginsburg to flll the vacancy on the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
This Oct. 10, 2007 photos shows Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House announced Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 Lewis will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor..(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson, file)
A detail of Artist Nelson Shanks’ painting, “The Four Justices”, a 9-foot 6-inch by 7-foot 9-inch oil on canvas portrait of the first four female justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, top row, from left, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, bottom row, from left, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is seen during a press preview at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
People view the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
In this Oct. 1, 1993, file photo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, center, poses with her family at the Court in Washington. From left are, son-in-law George Spera, daughter Jane Ginsburg, husband Martin, son James Ginsburg. The judge's grandchildren Clara Spera and Paul Spera are in front. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., left, is arrested during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy against the actions of the Sudanese government in Darfur on Monday, April 27, 2009, in Washington. Lewis as well as other humanitarian leaders and U.S. lawmakers, including Reps. Keith Ellison and Donna Edwards, were led away from the embassy in handcuffs Monday after crossing a police line. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia wait with former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush prior to the walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
The flag-draped casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrives at the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Ginsburg, 87, died of cancer on Sept. 18. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., left, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, listen as civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., speaks at an event before the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act to eliminate potential state and local voter suppression laws, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks to the American Bar Association House of Delegates after receiving the ABA Medal in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
