'He was my leader': John Lewis to be celebrated in MLK's church
A service for Rep. John Lewis will take place in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor. Dr. King's sermons inspired Mr. Lewis as a boy into a life of civil rights activism. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush will attend.
Congressman John Lewis shows two of his favorite items from his collection of memorabilia from his younger days as a civil rights activist in the 1960s in his Atlanta office in an undated photo. Mr. Lewis, who died July 17, 2020, was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.
Kimberly Smith/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP/File
Atlanta
When John Lewis is mourned, revered, and celebrated at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Thursday, he returns to a sacred place imbued with civil rights history.
The arc of Mr. Lewis鈥� legacy of activism will once again be tied to Ebenezer鈥檚 former pastor Martin Luther King Jr., whose sermons Mr. Lewis discovered while scanning the radio dial as a 15-year-old boy growing up in then-segregated Alabama.
Dr. King continued to inspire Mr. Lewis鈥� civil rights work for the next 65 years as he fought segregation during sometimes bloody marches, Greyhound bus 鈥淔reedom Rides鈥� across the South, and later during his long tenure in the U.S. Congress.
Mr. Lewis died July 17 at age 80.
Former President Barack Obama will be attending Thursday鈥檚 funeral and is expected to address mourners, according to a person familiar with the arrangements who was not authorized to speak publicly. President George W. Bush鈥檚 office said the former president and first lady Laura Bush also will attend.
鈥淗e was my hero,鈥� Ebenezer鈥檚 senior pastor, The Rev. Raphael Warnock, said in an interview late Wednesday. 鈥淗e laid it all on the line, at the risk of life and limb.鈥�
鈥淗e read the Gospel, and he actually believed it 鈥� love your enemies,鈥� added Rev. Warnock, who will officiate the funeral.
When Mr. Lewis was 15, he heard Mr. King鈥檚 sermons on WRMA, a radio station in Montgomery, Alabama, he recalled in an interview for the Southern Oral History Program.
鈥淟ater I saw him on many occasions in Nashville while I was in school between 1958 and 鈥�61,鈥� Mr. Lewis said. 鈥淚n a sense, he was my leader.鈥�
Mr. King was 鈥渢he person who, more than any other, continued to influence my life, who made me who I was,鈥� Mr. Lewis wrote in his 1998 autobiography, 鈥淲alking with the Wind.鈥�
By the summer of 1963, Mr. Lewis was addressing thousands of people during the March on Washington, speaking shortly before Mr. King gave his 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥� speech. He spoke then about Black people beaten by police and jailed 鈥� themes that resonate vividly in today鈥檚 times.
鈥淢y friends, let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution,鈥� Mr. Lewis told the huge crowd on the Washington Mall.
鈥淭o those who have said, 鈥楤e patient and wait,鈥� we have long said that we cannot be patient,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again.鈥�
In 1965, Mr. Lewis was beaten by Alabama state troopers in the city of Selma in what became known as 鈥淏loody Sunday.鈥�
Last Sunday, his casket was carried across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The wagon rolled over a carpet of rose petals on the bridge that spans the Alabama River. On the south side of the bridge, where Mr. Lewis was attacked by the law officers, family members placed red roses that the carriage rolled over, marking the spot where Mr. Lewis spilled his blood and suffered a head injury.
Mr. Lewis was later awarded the Medal of Freedom by the nation鈥檚 first Black president in 2011.
He spent more than three decades in Congress, and his district included most of Atlanta.
On Monday, a memorial service at the U.S. Capitol in Washington drew congressional leaders from both parties. Mr. Lewis was the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. On Wednesday he was lauded as a warrior and hero during a ceremony at the Georgia Capitol, where people paid their final respects to the civil rights icon in one of the last memorials.
Mr. Lewis was a member of Ebenezer, and 鈥渋t was my honor to serve as pastor to John Lewis, a man of faith and a true American patriot who selflessly risked life and limb in the sacred cause of truth-telling and justice-making in the world,鈥� Rev. Warnock said in a statement before the funeral.
鈥淗e was wounded for America鈥檚 transgressions, crushed for our iniquities and by his bruises we are healed,鈥� Rev. Warnock added. 鈥淭oday we weep. Tomorrow we continue the work of healing that was his life鈥檚 work.鈥�
This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP Writers Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.
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