Jehan Jones-Radgowski - John Lewis: Get to Know the Statesman Who Marched for Civil Rights

After Johns famous ride, more than 400 other volunteers from across 40 states joined the Freedom Riders. They trained for several days. They learned local and state laws regarding segregation and their rights as citizens. They also learned what they could legally do if their rights were denied.

John Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. His parents, Eddie and Willie Mae, were poor farmers. They grew corn, peanuts, and cotton. John had nine brothers and sisters. Everyone had to help on the farm. When John was young, his main job was to take care of the chickens. He treated them like special pets. He would read the Bible, the familys only book, to them.

There was only one school for black children in Johns town. There were two rooms for all the students. There was no running water or indoor plumbing. In the winter John and his friends searched for sticks and branches to burn in the tiny stove. Everything in the school was homemade or bought by the community. On rainy days, the old bus they rode would get stuck in the mud. The students would have to get off and push it to school.

On the way to his school, Johns bus passed buses and schools for white children. The buses were shiny and traveled on paved roads. The whites-only schools were new and had playgrounds. John also noticed something else. We drove past prison work gangs almost every day, he said. The prisoners were always black. As were the folks working in the fields beyond them. You couldnt help but notice.

a segregated classroom, 1953

John could only go to school when there was no work to do. But he wanted to learn. Sometimes he would jump on the bus even though he knew he was needed at home.

When John was 11, he took a trip with his uncle to New York. Going from the segregated South to the He was shocked to see white and black people living in the same neighborhoods. This visit convinced John that people of different races couldand shouldlive, play, and study together.

children playing in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City, in 1950

John wasnt the only one who thought this way. In the summer of 1954 the Supreme Court ruled on he said. An integrated school.

But things did not change in Alabama and in other southern states. The leaders of Johns state did not obey the Supreme Courts ruling. Life continued as it had beforesegregated.