Rep. John Lewis forever stamp debuts, with special event at Atlanta’s Morehouse College
A new Forever stamp honoring civil rights icon and late Georgia Congressman John Lewis debuted Friday.
The stamp was officially unveiled at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was at the ceremony as the stamp was revealed, showing the many Georgians and others gathered to celebrate Lewis’ life and legacy.
Lewis’ family was there, as well as the state’s two U.S. Senators, John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Those gathered to honor the late congressman also included two former Atlanta mayors.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Lewis’ presence and his power were present at the ceremony. While his voice may be silent, it still carries in the voices that filled the hall to honor him.
During the ceremony, voices lifted in song and strained with emotion, and the presence of the civil rights icon was felt in the words of activists at the event.
“John was able to see people with his heart, rather than with his mind, and that made all the difference,” Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of a segregationist Alabama governor from years ago, said. “Peace and love abided with his heart, that is the man I shall always remember.”
Lewis’ power was racial reconciliation.
That power and his presence are felt in his gaze, now shared as a forever stamp.
TRENDING STORIES:
GA Lowe’s worker punched 3 times trying to stop thieves. She’s now been fired after 13 years on job
Jamie Foxx releases first photo of himself on social media since his hospitalization in Atlanta
Metro mother says landlord ‘sweet as pie’ turned out to be fake. Now she has days to get out
His face is that of a freedom fighter, of someone who believed in “good trouble, necessary trouble,” as Lewis famously said.
Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell also carried Lewis’ presence with his words.
“John Lewis will stand beside Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Dr. King, as one of the transformative freedom fighters in our time, our generation,” Campbell said.
His presence looms large in something so small, a postage stamp, and people lined up to buy their own, the power of the man’s legacy at their fingertips.
“His life is a testament to the power we all have to create the country that lives up to the ideals that John Lewis fought for, and this stamp is a reminder of that power and those ideals,” Ron Stroman, a Governor of the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service, said at the event.
The stamp features a photograph of John Lewis, taken for Time Magazine in 2013.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
