The Lewis forever stamp will be issued in July.
By Rashad Grove
The late Civil Rights Icon and congressman John Lewis will be honored with a Forever stamp by the U.S. Postal Service, CBS News reports.
Designed by Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, the stamp features a photograph of Lewis taken by Marco Grob on Aug. 26, 2013, for an issue of TIME magazine. At the bottom of the stamp is Lewis’ name along with the words “USA” and “Forever” at the top left corner.
“The stamp will forever represent and commemorate one of our country’s greatest sons and the conscience of our Congress. It’s appropriate that one of our forever heroes will be recognized with a Forever stamp.”
The Postal Service said the stamp rightly “celebrates the life and legacy” of Lewis who exemplified a life committed to serving humanity. “Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he had helped achieve in the 1960s,” the postal service said. “Even in the face of hatred and violence, as well as some 45 arrests, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call “good trouble.”
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump expressed his excitement about the unveiling of the stamp on Wednesday (June 22) in a post on Twitter.
“Lawmakers unveiled a U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring Congressman John Lewis yesterday at the U.S. Capitol. The late representative and civil rights icon is more than worthy of this honor for his enduring willingness to get into #GoodTrouble for the sake of equal justice,” his post read.
Lewis began his life’s work of getting into “good trouble” as he fought against the oppressive forces of systemic racism and segregation during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. He led about 600 protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., during a protest that became known as “Bloody Sunday” and was one of the featured speakers of the March On Washington For Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
A staunch advocate of racial justice and equality of all, Lewis served as executive director of the Voter Education Project, as associate director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency that oversaw the Peace Corps and VISTA, and as a member of the Atlanta City Council.
After decades of advocacy against racism and segregation, Lewis was elected to Congress where he represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives where he would serve for the rest of his life. He was the driving force behind the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and also sponsored the legislation that created the 54-mile-long Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2010. He passed away on July 17, 2020.
In addition to the stamp, the main post office facility in Atlanta would be named in honor of Lewis, Postmaster Louis DeJoy said.
The Lewis Forever stamp will be issued in July.
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