John Lewis was a civil rights icon. Known as the "conscience of the U.S. Congress," Lewis continually represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District, which includes most of Atlanta, since taking office in 1987. He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in Dec. 2019. Lewis died at age 80 on July 17, 2020.<BR><BR>Congressman John Lewis is photographed in his offices in the Canon House office building on March 17, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Students demonstrators James Bevel, left, and John Lewis, right, stand inside the Krystal lunch counter at 204 Fifth Ave. N. in downtown Nashville, Nov. 10, 1960, after the manager turned on a fumigating machine to disrupt their sit-in. The pair remained inside the restaurant for half an hour while it filled up with the dense cloud of non-toxic insect spray. They finally left when asked to do so by Assistant Fire Chief W.D. Gallaher, who was called by the police.

Starting in 1961, Lewis took part in a series of demonstrations that became known as the Freedom Rides. He and other activists rode together in buses through the South to challenge the region's lack of enforcement of a Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional.<BR><BR>Two blood-splattered Freedom Riders, John Lewis, left, and James Zwerg stand together after being attacked and beaten by pro-segregationists in Montgomery, Ala., May 20, 1961.

A mug shot of John Lewis, following his arrest in Jackson, Miss. for using a restroom reserved for white people during the Freedom Ride demonstration against racial segregation, May, 24, 1961.

Two police officers carry John Lewis to a waiting police paddy wagon after he failed to obey police orders to move away from the Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 2, 1962. Students, Black and white, staged sit-ins at Nashville businesses to end segregation.

John Lewis, 23, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, addresses a crowd at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. Lewis was the youngest speaker of the day.

Supporters of Black voting rights organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in 1965. John Lewis, third from left, Ralph Abernathy, center, Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, Ralph Bunche march arm in arm as they begin the civil rights march from Brown's Chapel Church in Selma, Ala., March 21, 1965.

After Lewis, alongside fellow civil rights leader Hosea Williams, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. the marchers were violently attacked by state troopers, March 7, 1965, on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."Lewis (on the ground) sustained a fractured skull. The day's violence sped up the passage of The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1981.<BR><BR>Councilman Lewis holds the March 1965 issue of Life Magazine in his office in Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 7, 1986. The cover photo shows Lewis leading the Selma, Ala. civil rights march with Hosea Williams. Lewis suffered brutal beatings and humiliating sentences in the five years preceding the passage of The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lewis was elected to Congress in 1986.<BR><BR>Lewis and his wife, Lillian, lead a march of supporters from his campaign headquarters for a victory party after he defeated Julian Bond in a run-off election for Georgia's Fifth Congressional District in Atlanta, Sept. 3, 1986.

District of Columbia Congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton and Rep. John Lewis sit next to Coretta Scott King during the unveiling of a commemorative granite engraving in honor of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Aug. 22, 2003, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on those steps nearly 40 years earlier.

Rep. John Lewis is arrested by Secret Service agents in front of the Sudanese Embassy while demonstrating against the genocide in Darfur in Washington, April 27, 2009. Lewis was one of eight members of Congress and activists arrested for civil disobedience.

President Barack Obama awarded John Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of advocacy and activism in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Feb. 15, 2011.

Rep. John Lewis stands on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Feb. 14, 2015. Lewis was beaten by police on the bridge on "Bloody Sunday" on March 7, 1965, during a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

President Barack Obama walks alongside Amelia Boynton Robinson, right, one of the original marchers, the Rev. Al Sharpton, first lady Michelle Obama, and Rep. John Lewis across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015.

A published author, Lewis co-authored a trilogy, "MARCH," an autobiographical graphic novel about the civil rights movement. The project garnered the National Book Award among others.<BR><BR>Lewis attends Comic-Con International 2015 in San Diego to promote the first and second book in the trilogy.

Reps. Paul Tonko, James Clyburn, John Lewis, Joe Crowley, Nancy Pelosi, Terri Sewell, and Charlie Rangel, sing "We Shall Overcome" after Democrats' sit-in ended on the floor of the House, June 23, 2016. The Democrats were calling on Republicans to allow a vote on gun violence measures.

John Lewis advocated for nearly 30 years for a national African American museum. He first introduced legislation in Congress in 1988.<BR><BR>Lewis waves as he receives a standing ovation at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, Sept. 24, 2016. Applauding on stage are, left to right, former first lady Laura Bush, former President George W Bush, former first lady Michelle Obama, and President Barack Obama.

Rep. John Lewis leads a march of thousands through the streets of Atlanta, March 24, 2018. People across the nation rallied against gun violence and in support of stricter gun control.

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it invalidated the requirement that states with histories of voter discrimination obtain federal approval before changing voting procedures.<BR><BR>Lewis and other House Democrats introduced the Voting Rights Advancement Act on Capitol Hill on Feb. 26, 2019 to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in Washington. Lewis warned "there are forces in America today trying to take us back to another time." The bill was passed in the House in Dec. 2019, but not acted upon by the Senate.

Rep. John Lewis prepares to pay his respects to Rep. Elijah Cummings, lying in state, during a memorial service at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 24, 2019.

CNN Films 2020 documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble," explores Lewis' social activism and political career.<BR><BR>Rep. John Lewis in a scene from the documentary.

In this June 7, 2020, photo provided by the Executive Office of District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, John Lewis looks over a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington.

The image of late Rep. John Lewis is projected on the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va., July 19, 2020. Lee's statue has been transformed into a canvass for Black Lives Matter projections.<BR><BR>Some profane language digitally blurred.

The casket of the late Rep. John Lewis arrives to lie in repose at Troy University on July 25, 2020, in his hometown of Troy, Ala.

The casket of Rep. John Lewis moves over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, strewn with rose petals representing the blood spilled on Bloody Sunday, by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus reach in and touch the flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis as he lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, July 27, 2020. Lewis if the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda.

John-Miles Lewis places a flower on the casket of his father, Rep. John Lewis, during his burial at South-View Cemetery in Atlanta, July 30, 2020.