A statue honoring the late U.S. Representative John Lewis, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, has recently been unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama.
This sculpture, named Steadfast Stride Toward Justice, is located within the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Plaza and stands alongside statues of notable figures such as Rosa Parks, which was unveiled in February, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which was revealed in June.
All three statues were crafted by sculptor Basil Watson, who is based in Atlanta, and they are prominently displayed across from the Legacy Museum in Montgomery.
Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the initiative, expressed that the state of Alabama owes a significant debt of gratitude to John Lewis for his relentless fight against Jim Crow laws and racial segregation.
Stevenson emphasized that Lewis’s courageous activism paved the way for the freedoms we now celebrate in various public arenas, such as sports facilities.
The Legacy Plaza also contains a brick sculpture that commemorates civil rights marchers, along with a vibrant mural created by local artist Kevin King.
John Lewis hailed from Pike County, Alabama, and is well-known for his leadership role during the historic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965, an event now referred to as “Bloody Sunday.”
In 1981, Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council and subsequently became a member of Congress in 1986, where he served an impressive 17 terms representing Georgia’s 5th District.
He passed away in 2020 at the age of 80.
In recognition of his contributions, former President Barack Obama awarded Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Obama remarked that future generations would remember Lewis as an embodiment of courage—an individual who understood that change needed to happen immediately and could not be delayed or assigned to others.
His life serves as an ongoing lesson in the urgent necessity for action.
