US postage stamp to honor civil rights icon John Lewis
Associated Press
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The late congressman and civil rights giant John Lewis will be honored with a postage stamp in 2023, the U.S. Postal Service said.
U.S. Postal Service via AP
This image provided by the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday shows a new postage stamp honoring the late congressman and civil rights giant John Lewis.
The design for the stamp uses a photograph taken by Marco Grob for a 2013 issue of Time magazine. Lewis, then 73, wears a dark suit and blue tie and looks directly into the camera.
A 1963 picture of Lewis at a workshop on nonviolent protest in Clarksdale, Mississippi, taken by Steve Schapiro, is planned for the margin of the printed stamp sheets.
The Postal Service said the stamp “celebrates the life and legacy” of Lewis, who died at age 80 in 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
“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,’” the agency said.
Lewis’ bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in Selma in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation. By that time he was a major leader in the Civil Rights Movement, having helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and spoken at the March on Washington just before Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Lewis went on to be elected to the Atlanta City Council and then to a long career in Congress, where he was frequently hailed as a moral leader.
U.S. Sen. John Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat and onetime intern for Lewis, wrote to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee last year requesting the stamp.
Other stamps announced Tuesday include ones honoring the Florida Everglades, skateboard art and children’s book author and illustrator Tomie dePaola.
Brynn Anderson
The Rev. Darryl Caldwell speaks as the casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lies in repose during a service celebrating "The Boy from Troy" at Troy University on Saturday, July 25, 2020, in Troy, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Brynn Anderson
A man places flower petals on the Edmund Pettus Bridge ahead of Rep. John Lewis' casket crossing during a memorial service for Lewis, Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
John Bazemore
The casket of Rep. John Lewis moves over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Brynn Anderson
Mourners watch the casket of Rep. John Lewis move over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Alex Brandon
The flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left and family members standing nearby, Monday, July 27, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. The plane that is Air Force One when used by the President is behind them. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Pablo Martinez Monsivais
The hearse carrying the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., moves along a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Matt McClain
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police honor guard stand near the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday, July 27, 2020, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo via AP)
Matt McClain
People attend a memorial service for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga, as he lies in state at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Jonathan Ernst
The flag-draped casket of civil rights pioneer Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who died July 17, is placed by a U.S. military honor guard at the center of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to lie in state in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
J. Scott Applewhite
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-D-Ala., and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, depart at the conclusion of a service for the late Rep. John Lewis, a key figure in the civil rights movement and a 17-term congressman from Georgia, as he lies in state at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)
Patrick Semansky
Mary Clement of Silver Spring, Md., holds an American flag as she views the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Patrick Semansky
The flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Patrick Semansky
Richard Toye of Washington wears a face mask to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus as he departs after viewing the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Manuel Balce Ceneta
Jaquenette Ferguson from Oxon Hill, Md., gestures as she gets her picture taken beside a portrait of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., near the East Front Steps of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Patrick Semansky
People view the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Anna Moneymaker
The flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard from Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Washington. (Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Brynn Anderson
A mourner shows a card as he waits for the casket of Rep. John Lewis to arrive at the state capital as Lewis will lie in repose, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Brynn Anderson
A mourner walks to the state capital as Rep. John Lewis lies in repose, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Brynn Anderson
A mourner pauses by the casket of Rep. John Lewis lying in repose at the state capital, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Alyssa Pointer
Tybre Faw becomes emotional after the reading of John Lewis' favorite poem, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley during the funeral service for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Alyssa Pointer
Former President Barack Obama, addresses the service during the funeral for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Brynn Anderson
A mourners signs a card outside Ebenezer Baptist Church during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis, Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
