Nation honors John Lewis with final farewell
From the heart of the once-segregated South to Washington, D.C., the nation's final goodbye to Rep. John Lewis reflected the dignity of the sharecropper's son who became a symbol of moral courage during a lifetime spent getting into “good trouble.”
In Selma, Alabama, the river town where Lewis was beaten by state troopers on “Bloody Sunday” while marching for voting rights in 1965, a pair of dark horses pulled a caisson that carried his flag-draped casket across the Edmund Pettus Bridge one last time. Their polished hooves clip-clopped over a carpet of red rose petals spread atop the hot asphalt.
A man places flower petals on the Edmund Pettus Bridge ahead of Rep. John Lewis' casket crossing during a memorial service for Lewis, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Mourners watch the casket of Rep. John Lewis move over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
“Good trouble!” some shouted from the roadside, echoing the phrase Lewis used to describe his confrontations with white segregationists during the civil rights era. Reins in one hand, the driver of the rig stood with a top hat held over his heart.
At the U.S. Capitol, where Lewis spent more than three decades representing Atlanta in the U.S. House, fellow Democrats and Republicans — wearing face masks to prevent spreading the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — joined in a bipartisan tribute in the rotunda.
The size of crowds was kept down by the pandemic and by the smothering heat that caused one member of the honor guard to collapse. Still, people came from all over to honor the man who was sometimes called the “conscience of Congress.”
In a moment that bridged the civil rights movement of decades ago and the protests of today against racial injustice, Lewis' hearse moved along the street where “BLACK LIVES MATTER” is written in bright yellow paint on a road near the White House.
The hearse carrying the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., moves along a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, July 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
“I think it was important that he lived to see a resurgence of what he started. Now it’s time to finish it,” said Jay Stegall, an American University graduate student and Atlanta native.
Other events were held in Lewis' southeast Alabama hometown of Troy and the Alabama Capitol, where the late Gov. George C. Wallace once thundered “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.” Lewis' final stop was at the Georgia Capitol before a private burial service in Atlanta.
Lewis, who was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in December, died July 17 at the age of 80.
The Rev. Darryl Caldwell speaks as the casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lies in repose during a service celebrating "The Boy from Troy" at Troy University, July 25, 2020, in Troy, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A mourner walks to the state capital as Rep. John Lewis lies in repose, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left and family members standing nearby, Monday, July 27, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The flag-draped casket of civil rights pioneer Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who died July 17, is placed by a U.S. military honor guard at the center of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to lie in state in Washington, July 27, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
People attend a memorial service for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga, as he lies in state at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2020. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-D-Ala., and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, depart at the conclusion of a service for the late Rep. John Lewis, a key figure in the civil rights movement and a 17-term congressman from Georgia, as he lies in state at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police honor guard stand near the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday, July 27, 2020, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo via AP)
Mary Clement of Silver Spring, Md., holds an American flag as she views the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Richard Toye departs after viewing the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Jaquenette Ferguson from Oxon Hill, Md., gestures as she gets her picture taken beside a portrait of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., near the East Front Steps of the U.S. the Capitol, July 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard from Capitol Hill, July 29, 2020, in Washington. (Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
People view the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A mourner shows a card as he waits for the casket of Rep. John Lewis to arrive at the state capital as Lewis will lie in repose, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A mourner pauses by the casket of Rep. John Lewis lying in repose at the state capital, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A mourners signs a card outside Ebenezer Baptist Church during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis, July 30, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
An honor guard, followed by members of Georgia's Black Caucus, carries the casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., from the Capitol for the funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Former President Barack Obama, addresses the service during the funeral for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Former President Barack Obama, addresses the service during the funeral for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Tybre Faw becomes emotional after the reading of John Lewis' favorite poem, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley during the funeral service for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The Honor Guard carries the body of Rep. John Lewis after the service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The Honor Guard presents the flag that was on his casket to his son, John-Miles Lewis, at the burial service for Rep. John Lewis at South-View Cemetery in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Flowers lie on the casket after the burial service for Rep. John Lewis at South-View Cemetery in Atlanta, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Nation honors John Lewis with final farewell, by Jay Reeves.