U.S. Congressman and prominent civil rights leader John Lewis wowed a packed EMU Ballroom on Monday night with first-hand tales of the struggle for civil rights.
Rep. Lewis, D-Ga., spoke at a Presidential Lecture to hundreds of University students, faculty, staff and community members.
Lewis, the youngest speaker at the famous 1963 March On Washington, drew praise for enduring police beatings and more than 40 arrests to play a significant role in the struggle for civil rights.
“He is truly one of the great, courageous American heroes,” said School of Architecture and Allied Arts Dean Robert Melnick, who first saw Lewis speak at the March on Washington.
Besides his numerous arrests, Lewis endured being spat on at lunch counter sit-ins and beaten during the historic march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala.
“I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick,” Lewis said. “I thought I was going to die.”
Now serving his ninth term in Congress, Lewis remains proud of his role in the struggle for civil rights.
“We got in trouble, we got in the way,” Lewis said. “It was good trouble.”
Lewis also discussed his humble beginnings in rural southeast Alabama, where his sharecropper father tended to 110 acres.
“I didn’t grow up in a big city like Eugene,” Lewis said.
Lewis first took an active role in the civil rights struggle after he was denied admission to a college near his home.
“As a young child, I tasted the bitter fruits of segregation and racial discrimination, and I did not like it,” Lewis said.
Lewis wrote to Martin Luther King Jr. and was soon invited to Montgomery, Ala., to meet King and fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy.
On his trip to Montgomery, Lewis said he encountered numerous signs that enforced segregation.
Now, Lewis said, “They’re gone and America is a better place and a better country.”
As the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington approaches, Lewis holds steadfast to the non-violent ideals at the heart of the civil rights struggle.
“(Non-violence) is not simply a technique, not simply a tactic, but a way of life,” Lewis said.
Melnick praised the congressman for sticking to his ideals.
“In many ways he hasn’t changed, and that’s what’s so wonderful about him,” Melnick said. “He still holds strongly on to those values.”
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said Lewis is a good friend to have in Congress.
“He’s a living inspiration,” DeFazio said.
Moe Spencer, a second-year law student, had similar sentiments.
“It is good to hear someone who is living, breathing history in the flesh,” Spencer said.
University President Dave Frohnmayer said Lewis’ visit was an honor to the University.
“It’s a chance to bring alive a period of history that seems to have fled too quickly from our memory,” he said.