In the midst of a modern-day civil rights movement, birthed from the death of George Floyd, we have lost a civil rights pioneer. John Lewis endured more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries all the while remaining a devoted advocate to the philosophy of nonviolence.

He never left the frontlines of getting in “good trouble” when it came to standing for civil rights. He dedicated every inch of his life to fighting injustice of all kinds from the streets to the halls of Congress.

The son of sharecroppers, Lewis was born 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. In his youth, he was inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to become an activist.

As a student at Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters and volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. He risked his life and took severe beatings by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.