Historic Tidbit: The song “Change is Gonna Come” by legendary singer Sam Cooke is often considered a prelude to the Civil Rights movement. It is one of the most introspected, moving songs that is extremely underrated.
The original hero of the original March (Life Magazine photo)
This week, millions of Americans got to capture or relive an iconic, history changing event thought to be confined to the books and newsreels, as the 1963 “March on Washington” was recreated. The climax of that event was the “I Have A Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
John Lewis was a pillar of the Civil Rights movement and next to Dr. King, may be the most famous. Certainly, he is among the last of the living icons of that era and he is indeed the only surviving speaker of the March. And the respect and admiration that he enjoys grows stronger every day. Lewis wrote a book, “Walking With the Wind,” about ten years ago and I’ve kept it since that time.
Among the many carnations of the Civil Rights era Lewis covered; the “Mississippi Summer” of 1964. To most Americans, that movement is encapsulated by the murder of three Civil Rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, but the reality is, it was a time of pursuing goals and aspirations for African-Americans in the south, at the end of which many were met.
Lewis wrote that “no one who went to Mississippi that summer came out the same,” and the same may be said of people who read his book. The title, Lewis explains, comes from a major rain storm during Lewis’ boyhood in Troy, Alabama. Lewis and a number of his cousins were forced into his aunts home, a shack, and as Lewis told it, “the storm “was actually pulling the house toward the sky — with us inside it.” What an appropriate metaphor for his life.
Obviously, a significant portion of Lewis’ book dealt with the March on Washington. How could it not? But he also provides us a play-by-play of the machinations, discussions, and drama that played out almost until the last minute — well after the marchers had started.
In 1963, “My Boyfriends Back” by the Angels topped the R&B Hot charts while, perhaps appropriately, “Heatwave,” by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas,” was number one on the Billboard R&B. In the theaters, “Flipper” and “Promises, Promises” were alternating between first and second. Americans were most comfortable driving the Chevy Impala and John Pennel was becoming the first person to poll vault 17 inches.
Lewis described the march as “a moving sea of humanity….truly awesome, the most incredible thing I’d ever seen in my life.” He cites the many celebrities, such as Tony Bennett (reprising the role again yesterday), Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier, and others who lent a helping hand.
And Lewis provides insight into how the most powerful speech almost wasn’t. Lewis recalls that as King was in the midst of his delivery,”it was a good speech, but not nearly as powerful as many as I had heard him make.” Only when Mahalia Jackson yelled out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin,” did King truly give the address that would enlighten the crowds, encapsulate the Civil Rights movement, and create indelible progress for decades and generations to come.
Lewis’ own speech was tweaked several times, including at a hastily assembled meeting moments before it’s scheduled delivery when a group of folks huddled behind the Lincoln Memorial to make politically proper revisions. The Kennedy administration was upset that Lewis’ prepared remarks would be a polite yet firm slap in the face of it’s lukewarm efforts on behalf of the cause. The ironic thing was that just after the march, King, Lewis, and others would meet the President at the White House, where it was established that his commitment was firm.
As Bill Clinton said, the 1963 March “changed America,” and it may be among the most indelible events in America’s 225 year history. I am convinced that Barack Obama would not have been able to address the crowd yesterday as our nation’s first African-American President had it not been for King, Lewis, and their disciples.
Of course, the joy and jubilation over the success of the march would be tempered days later by the bombing of the Birmingham Church that killed four African-American girls at a Birmingham church. There was President Kennedy’s assassination, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which led to the “Mississippi Summer” of 1964 which of course culminated with the Voting Rights Act of ’65.
About Lewis. I have met him several times but I can’t say I know him. I was fortunate enough to have a photo taken with him as an 18 year old boy — I simply walked into his office and asked. He was as nice as can be, even straightening my suit jacket collar beforehand. More importantly, everyone who has ever encountered him says the same thing. The liberals who are ideological soulmates and the conservatives whose policies he bitterly detests say the same thing: that he is a beautiful human being who goes about his duties literally and passionately, but with malice toward none. One would think that shouldn’t be easy.
It’s difficult to imagine that a person who bears so many scars, figuratively and literally, as a result of a system that tried and for a time succeeded in holding him back, can bear no bitterness toward people who embody a system that, in many ways, still hasn’t completely changed. The right to vote is no longer in question but tactics relating to the right to vote most certainly are. Few would openly dare talk about hostility toward the African-American, Latino, and other poor communities, but clearly go about attacking them in other veiled ways.
Yet Lewis is embracing and inviting, and all about hope. He is all about inclusion, and embraces races and religions of every kind.During the 2002 round of redistricting, many Atlanta Jewish leaders wanted to be placed into Lewis’ district. He often says “the time is always right to do what is right” and Lewis is the first person to heed his words.
With his calm, preacheresque voice, he moves all, sometimes to tears, and it can honestly be said that in an age when many tune out members of Congress even when they are among them, when Lewis speaks on the House floor or in committee, the room turns hush.
It bears stating that the only other recent member of Congress who is held in as much esteem with so much certainty as Lewis is Gabby Giffords and the irony is, events linked the two together even before the tragedy that nearly ended Giffords’ life. For whom did Giffords cast her vote to be Speaker of the House in 2011? John Lewis. That vote was three days before the events in Tuscon and Giffords’ vote for Lewis was largely symbolic, as he was not a candidate for the post. But tragedy, triumph, personal integrity and respect among peers linked Lewis,a lion, and Giffords,a lamb into allowing folks to capture images of not how the world should be, but how it can be.
In many cases, the proudest boast of a member of Congress is that they influence public policy, that they serve in the Capitol, that they’re famous. But for any member of Congress, regardless of party, and regardless of philosophy, the proudest boast should be that they have John Lewis as a colleague. And that should be the envy of all.