John Lewis (U.S. Politician) - Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, the third son of Willie Mae (née Carter) and Eddie Lewis. His parents were sharecroppers. Lewis was educated at the Pike County Training High School, Brundidge, Alabama and also American Baptist Theological Seminary and at Fisk University, both in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became a leader in the Nashville sit-ins. As a student he was invited to attend non-violence workshops held in the basement of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church by the Rev. James Lawson and Rev. Kelly Miller Smith. There he became a dedicated adherent to the discipline and philosophy of non-violence, which he still practices today. The Nashville sit-in movement was responsible for the successful desegregation of lunch counters in downtown Nashville. He was arrested and jailed many times in the struggle to desegregate the downtown area of the city. Afterwards, he participated in the Freedom Rides sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality or CORE, led by James Farmer and ultimately became a national leader in the struggle for civil rights and respect for human dignity. In an interview John Lewis said "I saw racial discrimination as a young child. I saw those signs that said "White Men, Colored Men, White Women, Colored Women."..."I remember as a young child with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins going down to the public library trying to get library cards, trying to check some books out, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for "coloreds." John Lewis followed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Rosa Parks on the radio. He and his family supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott.