'John Lewis: A Life' (Full Bio)

All Of It

Famously throughout his life and career, Congressman and activist John Lewis preached getting into, as he called it, "good trouble." When Lewis died on July 17, 2020 at the age of 80, America lost a titan of the Civil Rights movement. A leader of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, and one of the many activists who were brutally beaten at the infamous march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965, Lewis was a hero to many for his dedication to fighting for the rights of Black people always within the framework of non-violence.

For the latest installment of our Full Bio series, we spoke with David Greenberg, author of the new biography, John Lewis: A Life. Greenberg interviewed Lewis as well as 250 people who knew him or worked with him, including former President Obama. Here you can listen to all three parts of our conversation:

• John Lewis, Part 1: The early years of John Lewis, from a childhood in rural Alabama, to becoming the first member of his family to go to college, to his entrance as a student into the fight for civil rights.
• John Lewis, Part 2: How John Lewis became involved in SNCC, and the drama that led up to his famous speech at the March on Washington.
• John Lewis, Part 3: John Lewis enters politics in Atlanta and Congress, and his reputation as a politician and legislator.