[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 25477]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    DESIGNATING A BUILDING AS THE JOHN LEWIS CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAVID SCOTT

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 2003

  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on the House 
floor today regarding legislation that I am introducing along with 
Representative Denise Majette to name a building in Atlanta, Georgia as 
the ``John Lewis Civil Rights Institute.''
  The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site (MLKNHS) has 
purchased an apartment house located two doors west of Dr. King's Birth 
Home. The plan is to restore the building and convert it into an 
educational center--including four classrooms and an auditorium. The 
MLKNHS currently conducts educational programs in a house on Auburn 
Avenue, which accommodates 20 students. This new center would allow for 
expanded offerings of these educational programs. I am proud to 
introduce legislation that will name this educational center after U.S. 
Representative John Lewis who has spent his life promoting civil and 
human rights across the world.
  John Lewis was born the son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940 
outside of Troy, Alabama. He grew up on his family's farm and attended 
segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. He holds a Bachelor 
of Arts Degree in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University; and he 
is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in 
Nashville, Tennessee. He has also been awarded numerous honorary 
degrees from colleges and universities throughout the United States, 
including Clark Atlanta University, Duke University, Howard University, 
Brandeis University, Columbia University, Fisk University, Morehouse 
College, Princeton University and Williams College. John Lewis is the 
recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Martin Luther 
King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize and the NAACP Spingarn Medal. John 
Lewis is also the recipient of the John F. Kennedy ``Profile in Courage 
Award'' for lifetime achievement and the National Education Association 
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.
  As a student, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at 
segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, John Lewis 
volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which were organized 
to challenge segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. 
Lewis risked his life and was beaten severely by mobs for participating 
in the Rides. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, from 1963 
to 1966, Lewis was the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. SNCC was largely responsible 
for the sit-ins and other activities of students in the struggle for 
civil rights. Lewis, at the age of 23, was one of the planners and a 
keynote speaker at the historic ``March on Washington'' in August 1963. 
In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voters' 
registration drives and community action programs during the 
``Mississippi Freedom Summer.'' The following year, Lewis led one of 
the most dramatic nonviolent protests of the Movement. Along with 
fellow activist, Hosea Williams, John Lewis led over 600 marchers 
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. 
Alabama state troopers attacked the marchers in a confrontation that 
became known as ``Bloody Sunday.'' That fateful march and a subsequent 
march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama led to the Voting Rights 
Act of 1965.
  This is an appropriate tribute to a man who has dedicated his life to 
promoting human rights and I encourage my colleagues to support this 
legislation. Thank you.

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