HIS TRUTH IS MARCHING ON: JOHN LEWIS by John Meachum

In this book recently loaned to me by a friend, a lot of new and deeper information about John Lewis and the Southern United States was revealed. John Meachum writes beautifully about religious teachings and the call that Lewis felt to improve the lives of the people he knew. He simply could not as his family would, stand back and let the cruelty of segregation stand. He was called to be a minister from a very early age and his steadfastness over the years began to enthrall me. He felt called to put his life on the line in the service of what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”. Arrested 45 times in his life, Lewis was a strong proponent of the nonviolent approach to political change. Even as times and opinions changed, he stood by his creed of nonviolence and a faith in a “beloved community”.
I have read so much over the years about this time, but this was an almost new eye-opening experience. Time and again the leadership above him pleaded with him and his followers to desist and he (and they) said, no, we’ve made out our wills, we are going on.
He became head of SNCC and after a few years was deposed by Stokely Carmichael as the fight for Civil Rights moved from the Deep South to the entire US and non-violence was cast aside for Black Power. He met JFK, LBJ and many leaders, he spoke at the March on Washington, his proudest moment was pushing to get the Voting Rights Act passed….but he never lost his humility and sense of self. I would have liked to know what his many years in the House of Representatives was like.
Sad that we have lost both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis in these recent days.