John Lewis, US civil rights hero and Democratic congressman, dies at 80
John Lewis, US civil rights hero and Democratic congressman, dies at 80 Lewis helped Martin Luther King organise the March on Washington in 1963 and once suffered a broken skull at the hands of state troopers First published on Sat 18 Jul 2020 05.04 BST Share 1965 Congressman John Lewis, who has died at the age of 80. Photograph: Paul Marotta/Getty Images John Lewis, the civil rights hero and US Democratic congressman, has died at the age of 80. Lewis, the son of sharecroppers from Alabama, became a prominent leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. A founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he became its chair in 1963, and helped organise the March on Washington , when Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I have a dream” speech. Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Lewis, front with arms folded, in Selma in 1965. Photograph: Anonymous/AP Lewis was the youngest and last survivor of the “Big Six” civil rights activists, a group ...