Donald Trump has offered his condolences to John Lewis and the White House flags have been lowered to half-staff in honor of the civil rig...
Donald Trump has offered his condolences to John Lewis and the White House flags have been lowered to half-staff in honor of the civil rights activist whose bloody beating at Selma helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation.
America is mourning the loss of two great civil rights heroes in one day after Rev. C.T. Vivian, who worked alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and later led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also died Friday.
Their deaths come at a time when racial tensions are boiling nationwide after the 'murder' of George Floyd and a long line of deaths of African-Americans in police custody.
Trump paid tribute to Lewis Saturday afternoon, after he returned from a spot of golf with Senator Lindsey Graham earlier in the day.
'Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family,' Trump tweeted.
Donald Trump has offered his condolences to John Lewis (pictured) and the White House flags have been lowered to half-staff in honor of the civil rights activist whose bloody beating at Selma helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation
John Lewis is pictured (left) with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (center) at a demonstration in Nashville
Donald Trump tweeted Saturday to say he was 'saddened' by the news of Lewis's death and was 'praying' for his family
Flags at the White House, the Capitol, public buildings, and military bases were all lowered to half-staff across the country Saturday in honor of the pioneer of the civil rights movement turned Congressman.
Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill announced Saturday morning she had given the order for flags at the Capitol to be lowered in tribute, after the House Speaker announced Lewis's death late Friday.
'Speaker Pelosi has ordered the flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff due to the passing of Congressman John Lewis,' Hammill tweeted.
Just after 11 a.m., Trump then issued a presidential proclamation ordering all US flags at the White House, all public buildings and grounds, all military posts and embassies to be flown at half-staff for the remainder of the day.
House and Senate leadership are yet to comment on Lewis's burial but it is possible he will be laid to rest at the Capitol, an honor for American heroes that has happened only 36 times to date.
Flags flew at half-staff nationwide to pay tribute to Lewis Saturday. Pictured the flag over the White House is lowered
The flags surrounding the Washington Monument are lowered to half-staff the day after Lewis's death was announced
The White House (pictured), the Capitol, public buildings, and military bases all lowered their flags as lawmakers honored the pioneer of the civil rights movement turned Congressman
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill announced Saturday she had given the order for flags at the Capitol in tribute to the civil rights leader
Just after 11 a.m., Trump then issued a presidential proclamation ordering all US flags at the White House, all public buildings and grounds, all military posts and embassies to be flown at half-staff for the remainder of the day
The pioneer of the civil rights movement died at the age of 80 after a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
The Georgia congressman had been battling the cancer since December and died after receiving hospice care in Atlanta.
Lewis kept up the fight for civil rights and human rights until the very end of his life, inspiring others with calls to make 'Good Trouble.'
His final public act was paying a visit to the newly named Black Lives Matter Plaza leading up to the White House as the fight for racial justice continues across America.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Lewis's passing late Friday night, calling him 'one of the greatest heroes of American history.'
'All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,' Pelosi said.
'May his memory be an inspiration that moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make 'good trouble, necessary trouble.''
Lewis' family said in a statement: 'He was honored and respected as the conscience of the US Congress and an icon of American history, but we knew him as a loving father and brother.'
People also gathered at a large mural of Lewis along historic Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday to pay tribute to the civil rights icon
A woman lays flowers at the mural where people have left candles, flowers and messages honoring the civil rights great
The Atlanta mural is next to the famous quote from the civil rights icon from his speech at the March on Washington in 1963
Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton also paid tribute to Lewis during an event to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the death of Eric Garner Saturday
'He dedicated his entire live to non-violent activism and was an outspoken advocate in the struggle for equal justice in America. He will be deeply missed,' the statement continued.
Tributes have been pouring in for Lewis, with former President Barack Obama leading the way with a eulogy posted on Medium where he spoke of the moment he hugged him on the inauguration stand before Obama was sworn in to the White House.
'Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did,' Obama wrote.
'When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was only there because of the sacrifices he made,' Obama said.
'And thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders — to keep believing in the possibility of remaking this country we love until it lives up to its full promise.'
Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton also paid tribute to Lewis during an event Saturday to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the death of Eric Garner - an unarmed New York man who died in 2014 after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life saying he couldn't breathe.
House and Senate leadership are yet to comment on Lewis's burial but it is possible he will be laid to rest at the Capitol, an honor for American heroes that has happened only 36 times to date
Tributes have been pouring in for Lewis from former presidents and civil rights activists while flags fly at half-mast
Sharpton spoke at the National Action Network House of Justice in the Manhattan borough of New York City, after releasing a statement paying tribute to his 'friend' and 'role model'.
'My friend, role model, and activist extraordinaire has passed. Congressman John Lewis taught us how to be an activist,' he said.
'He changed the world without hate, rancor or arrogance. A rare and great man. Rest in Power and may God finally give you peace.'
Democrat candidate Joe Biden also remembered Lewis as 'one-of-a-kind'.
'We are made in the image of God, and then there is John Lewis.
'How could someone in flesh and blood be so courageous, so full of hope and love in the face of so much hate, violence, and vengeance?' Biden commented.
'He was truly a one-of-a-kind, a moral compass who always knew where to point us and which direction to march.'
Several people gathered at a large mural of Lewis along historic Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday to pay tribute to the civil rights icon.
Flowers were laid in front of the mural of the activist next to his famous quote from his speech at the March on Washington on August 28 1963, where he was the youngest speaker.
'I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation,' it reads.
'Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete'.
'Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America,' Lewis said at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 1, 2020
John Lewis looks over a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington on June 7. The Washington Monument and the White House are visible behind
Lewis announced in late December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
'I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,' he said. His announcement inspired tributes from both sides of the aisle, and an unstated accord that the likely passing of this Atlanta Democrat would represent the end of an era.
Lewis was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that had the greatest impact on the movement.
He was best known for leading some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965.
At age 25 - walking at the head of the march with his hands tucked in the pockets of his tan overcoat - Lewis was knocked to the ground and beaten by police.
His skull was fractured, and nationally televised images of the brutality forced the country´s attention on racial oppression in the South.
Within days, King led more marches in the state, and President Lyndon Johnson soon was pressing Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.
The bill became law later that year, removing barriers that had prevented black people from voting.
John Lewis (in vest) joins Martin Luther King Jr and his wife, Coretta Scott King on the podium before the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March rally on the steps on the Alabama State Capitol
Wilson Baker, left foreground, public safety director, warns of the dangers of night demonstrations at the start of a march in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Second from right foreground, is John Lewis of the Student Non-Violent Committee
Seen at a march in Selma in 1965: an unidentified priest and man, John Lewis, an unidentified nun, Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr, Ralph Bunche
A state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis, right foreground, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma
John Lewis, third from left, marches between President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2015 across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama
'John is an American hero who helped lead a movement and risked his life for our most fundamental rights; he bears scars that attest to his indefatigable spirit and persistence,' House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said after Lewis announced his cancer diagnosis.
Lewis joined King and four other civil rights leaders in organizing the 1963 March on Washington. He spoke to the vast crowd just before King delivered his epochal 'I Have a Dream' speech.
A 23-year-old firebrand, Lewis toned down his intended remarks at the insistence of others, dropping a reference to a 'scorched earth' march through the South and scaling back criticisms of President John Kennedy.
It was a potent speech nonetheless, in which he vowed: 'By the forces of our demands, our determination and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces and put them together in an image of God and democracy.'
It was almost immediately, and forever, overshadowed by the words of King, the man who had inspired him to activism.
President Barack Obama presents a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rep. John Lewis in 2011
Obama hugs Lewis at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The bridge is named for a former Confederate Army officer who served as a grand dragon in the Ku Klux Klan
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