Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Crosses Selma Bridge One Last Time

SELMA, AL — The body of civil rights icon and 17-term United States Congressman John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for the final time on Sunday, the second of a six-day remembrance that will include a lying in state in Washington, D.C. Lewis died last week at age 80 after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

It was on the same Alabama bridge 55 years ago, on March 7, 1955, where Lewis was beaten by state troopers on the Selma to Montgomery march. The date is known in history as "Bloody Sunday."

When Alabama state troopers beat and bloodied him on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, could a young John Lewis ever have imagined this day? That he’d live to be 80. That he’d be a lawmaker for decades. That his remains would cross the bridge again, this time lined with roses.
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) July 26, 2020

Various news outlets captured video of Sunday's Alabama funeral procession that included the carrying of Lewis' body across the bridge. Sunday's funeral is one of many planned to remember the late civil rights icon. On Saturday, he was remembered in a service in his hometown of Troy. He will later this week lay in rest on the United States Capitol and then for a final time at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Lewis' body was brought past the bridge from the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church on Sunday, the Washington Post and others have reported. His flag-draped casket was led by two horses and a driver during the funeral. The procession paused for a few minutes as Lewis' body was on the bridge overlooking the Alabama River.

Since his death a week ago, there has been a growing movement calling for the renaming of the Pettus bridge in Lewis' memory. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 100,000 have signed a Change.org petition calling for the renaming.

Related:

• Civil Rights Titan, Georgia Congressman John Lewis Dead At Age 80
• Rep. John Lewis Remembered As Gentle Soul Who Fought Racism