The Boy from Troy: Honoring Congressman John Lewis

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Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil rights leader stands beneath a bust of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as members of the Congressional Black Caucus gather for the memorial ceremony for the late Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Rep. Cummings, a Democrat and chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, died Oct. 17 after complications from long-standing health problems. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Efforts to to honor the late Maryland Congressman continue this week in Washington, DC. Over the weekend, a motorcade carried Lewis traveled through Troy and Selma, , reviewing his life as “The Boy from Troy.” A horse drawn carriage carried Lewis across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where over 57 years ago his head was cracked by a police officer while he marched for .

Today and tomorrow, the “Conscience of Congress” will lie in state at the top of the east front steps of the US Capitol for public viewing. Washington, requires masks to enter.



Click ▶️ to listen to AURN Washington Bureau Chief April Ryan’s White House Report for more details:

Civil rights leaders hold a news conference in Montgomery, Ala. and announce that the Freedom Rides will continue, May 23, 1961. In the foreground is John Lewis, one of the riders who was beaten. Others, left to right: James Farmer, Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rev. Martin Luther King. Lewis wears bandage on head. (AP Photo)
Six leaders of the nation’s largest black civil rights organizations meet in New York’s Hotel Roosevelt on July 2, 1963, to plan a civil rights march on Washington. From left, are: John Lewis, chairman Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee; Whitney Young national director, Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, president of the Negro American Labor Council; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. president Southern Christian Leadership Conference; James Farmer, Congress of Racial Equality director; and Roy Wilkins, executive secretary, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)
FILE – In this April 2, 1965 file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, speaks at a news conference next to John Lewis, to his left, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, in Baltimore. Monday is both Inauguration Day and the federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. It is only the second time the two have fallen on the same day. Some say it’s only fitting the celebrations are intertwined. “It’s almost like fate and history coming together,” said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who worked alongside King in the fight for civil rights during the 1950s and ‘60s and plans to attend the inauguration. “If it hadn’t been for Martin Luther King Jr., there would be no Barack Obama as president.” (AP Photo/William A. Smith, File)
In this photo taken Jan. 15, 2015, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., holds the new installment of his award-winning graphic novel on civil rights and nonviolent protest, on Capitol Hill in Washington. A comic book about Martin Luther King Jr. helped bring John Lewis into the civil rights movement. The longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia now hopes that graphic novels about his life and what his contemporaries endured to overcome racism will guide today’s protesters in search of justice. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House, a position she has held with AURN since the Clinton era. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her heightened insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation. April has written three books; The Presidency in Black & White: My Close-Up View of Three Presidents and Race in America, At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White, and Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Twitter: @aprildryan

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