Congressman John Lewis’ legacy will live on forever, and Spelman College is making sure of it.
Spelman announced that they plan to award five students with a $10,000 scholarship annually in honor of Lewis. “We believe that the best way to honor Congressman Lewis is to lift up those who are carrying out his work,” Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell said in a statement.
Campbell revealed in an interview that the late Congressman visited the college last year and encouraged students to continue their fight for change.
Lewis represented Georgia’s 5th congressional district for more than three decades, but he has been putting in work as a Civil Rights activist since the 1960s.
Congressman John Lewis’ family shared what it was like knowing him as a loved one versus the national leader he was. “He was honored and respected as the conscience of the US Congress and an icon of American history, but we knew him as a loving father and brother. He was a stalwart champion in the on-going struggle to demand respect for the dignity and worth of every human being. He dedicated his entire life to non-violent activism and was an outspoken advocate in the struggle for equal justice in America. He will be deeply missed.”
