A FINAL CROSSING
Late civil rights icon returns to site known for ‘Bloody Sunday’
horse-drawn wagon carries the casket of Rep. John Lewis on Sunday across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The bridge became a landmark in the fight for racial justice when Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten there 55 years ago on “Bloody Sunday,” a key event that helped galvanize support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
SELMA, Ala. — The late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, for the final time Sunday as remembrances continue for the civil rights icon.
The bridge became a landmark in the fight for racial justice when Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten there 55 years ago on “Bloody Sunday,” a key event that helped galvanize support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Lewis returned to Selma each March in commemoration.
Sunday found him crossing alone — instead of armin-arm with civil rights and political leaders — after his coffin was loaded atop a horse-drawn wagon that retraced the route through Selma from Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the 1965 march began.
As the wagon approached the bridge, members of the crowd shouted “Thank you, John Lewis!” and “Good trouble!” the phrase Lewis used to describe his tangles with white authorities during the civil rights movement.
Some crowd members sang the gospel song “Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Jesus.” Later, some onlookers sang the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” and other gospel tunes.
Lewis died July 17 at 80, months after he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Lewis served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death.
The wagon rolled over a carpet of rose petals, pausing atop the bridge over the Alabama River in the summer heat so family members could walk behind it. On the south side of the bridge, where Lewis was beaten by Alabama State Troopers in 1965, family members placed red roses that the carriage rolled over, marking the spot where Lewis spilled his blood and suffered a head injury.
As a military honor guard lifted Lewis’ casket from the horse-drawn wagon into a hearse, state troopers, including some African American ones, saluted Lewis.
Franz and Ellen Hill drove more than four hours from Monroe, Louisiana, to watch the procession.
Franz Hill, 60, said he remembers, as an African American child, watching news footage of Lewis and other civil rights marchers being beaten by law enforcement officers.
“I had to come back and see John Lewis cross the bridge for the last time,” Hill said. “It’s funny to see the state troopers here to honor and respect him rather than beat the crap out of him.”
Lewis’ body was then taken to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery in the afternoon to lie in repose, retracing the route marchers took in the days after “Bloody Sunday” to demand justice from Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
Bertha Surles and Edna Goldsmith stood along the highway between Selma and Montgomery to pay their final respects. Both carried signs, reading “Thank you.”
“He fought for rights up unto his death,” Surles, 70, said.
She was in high school on “Bloody Sunday” and remembered watching with horror the news footage of Lewis being beaten.
“They didn’t give up and something good came from it. Still need some improvement, but something good came from it,” she said.
“John was willing to sacrifice life so we can have the freedom to vote,” said Edna Goldsmith, who was wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt. “We want to see him off with a bang.”
Lewis left his family’s farm in Pike County, Alabama, in the 1950s to begin the fight against segregation and racial oppression.
He received a hero’s welcome on his final stop in his home state.
An honor guard carried Lewis’ flag-draped casket into the Capitol.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey placed a wreath of flowers shaped like the Alabama flag by the casket. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell placed a wreath shaped like the American flag.
His family members, many wearing shirts with the phrase “Good Trouble,” were led first into the Capitol before the public viewing later in the afternoon. A line of people waited to go inside and pay their respects.
He will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol this week before his private funeral Thursday at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church.