Postal stamp to honor life and legacy of Civil Rights leader John Lewis unveiled

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read
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Late congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis was honored at our nation’s capitol on Wednesday.

State leaders joined House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a stamp unveiling ceremony for Lewis.

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Last year, the United States Postal Service revealed additional stamps for 2023 which featured the late civil rights leader.

Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress. He died in July 2020 from pancreatic cancer.

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John Lewis’ fighting spirit never left him throughout his time in the House.

In 2016, following the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Lewis was one of 100 Democrats who staged a sit-in on the House floor, demanding then-Speaker Paul Ryan to keep the House in session to debate and vote on gun violence legislation that would expand background checks and preventing gun sales to suspected terrorists.

In August 2018, the city of Atlanta honored Lewis by renaming Freedom Parkway to the John Lewis Freedom Parkway. The adjoining park along the roadway was also renamed for Lewis.

“It’s very moving,” he told Channel 2 Action News at the time. “I want to thank (everyone) for believing in me and never, ever giving up on me.”

One of the fiercest critics of former-President Donald Trump, Lewis’ decision to boycott his inauguration in 2017 led the Republican to slam his Atlanta-based district as a “crime-infested” area that’s in “horrible shape.”

Dubbed by allies as the “conscience of the House,” Lewis was a key supporter of the impeachment of Trump, delivering a fiery speech in September 2019 arguing that delaying the proceedings would “betray the foundation of our democracy.”

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