A sit-down with the Lewis Family

Black History Month continues as a time of remembrance and recognition for those who paved a way for Black individuals, and one of those individuals was civil rights activist John Robert Lewis.  

History remembers the congressman's bravery in Selma, Alabama, and his long service in Washington D.C., but now it’s time to hear from his brothers who shared in his struggles against segregation and witnessed his early calling to be a leader. 

“He was always reading and studying, doing whatever he could to make things better,” said Henry Lewis, John Robert Lewis’s brother. “When he was growing up, he did not like the signs that he saw saying ‘colored’ and ‘white’ .” 

They recalled their days on the family farm and described their shared experiences of life in the Jim Crow south, which led to all the brothers wanting to fight for equality. 

“When we would go to the scales while picking cotton, you would weigh it, and it would seem as if you would originally have fifty pounds, but somehow they would cheat you and say you only had forty,” said Samuel Lewis, John Robert Lewis’s brother. 

The brothers mentioned that although they were very proud of their brother and his confidence to participate in the movement during events like Bloody Sunday, their parents were often fearful of the safety of their child. 

“I could see the fear in my parents’ eyes when they watched, and that really terrified them, because I knew they were afraid not only of what happened but what could happen in the future,” Henry Lewis said. 

Tyren Robinson stands with the brothers of John Robert Lewis. (Tyren Robinson photo)

Henry and Samuel spoke about their last moments with their brother John and recalled some of their last days with him before his passing. 

“My brother Freddie who just passed away told my brother John when he was on his deathbed that he wished he could trade places with him and John said ‘no, I have already lived my life, you just live yours’,” Henry Lewis said. 

Over the years, both Henry and Samuel were able to retrace the steps of their brother alongside other well-known figures and explained how that made them feel. 

“I enjoyed that,” Samuel Lewis said. “Like what Henry said, they would be singing those songs like ‘I ain’t gone let nobody turn me around,’ and it made me feel part of the movement.” 

Good trouble is not a bad thing. Good trouble means keeping on. 

As told by the Lewis family, the legacy of John Robert Lewis is to make sure that one keeps the faith and never lets anybody turn them around.