(Washington) A carriage drawn by two black horses carried the remains of John Lewis on Sunday across the bridge to Alabama where the American civil rights figure had nearly succumbed in 1965 under the beatings of the police.
Published on 26 July 2020 at 11 h 56
France Media Agency
This solemn crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in the town of Selma, punctuated the second of six days of tributes to the former activist and politician, who died on 17 July following cancer at the age of 80 years.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHER ALUKA BERRY, REUTERS
Flowers and messages have been placed at the foot of the monument honoring John Lewis on the east side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma.
John Lewis led on March 7 1965 in Selma a march of several hundred peaceful activists against racial discrimination , considered a turning point in the struggle for civil rights in the United States.
A policeman had fractured the skull of this son of sharecroppers, then aged 13 years old, who had kept the scar for the rest of his life.
PHOTO UNKNOWN, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Lewis beaten by a policeman, March 7 924
In 1965, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this “Bloody Sunday”, John Lewis had crossed the bridge again, hand in hand with Barack Obama, the first black president in the history of the United States.
While protests against racism and police violence continue in several large cities across the country, calls are increasing to rename this bridge to his name, which currently pays homage to a Confederate general and local leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
John Lewis's coffin will be placed Monday and Tuesday under the dome of the Capitol in Washington, an honor reserved for the highest American personalities.
89184577PHOTO ELIJAH NEWS, REUTERS
A military honor guard carries the coffin of the deceased after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
This series of commemorations will end Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, a state that the deceased had represented for more than 26 years in Congress.
He will be buried there after a private ceremony at the church baptized Ebenezer, where Pastor Martin Luther King had officiated.