Snapshots of Lewis, man of the people

Civil rights icon never met a camera he didn’t like or a hand he didn’t shake.

Two summers ago, Saidah Lewis and her then-2-year-old daughter Phoenix Lewis had just finished having lunch at Atlantic Station, minding their own businesses, when they caught a glimpse of John Lewis.

She was nervous, but Saidah Lewis introduced herself to the longtime congressman and civil rights icon.

“I thanked him for his service and asked him if we could have a picture,” she said.

After a few group photos, John Lewis reached down and picked up Phoenix Lewis, for a photo of just the two of them.

“It was just natural. She was holding on to him like she knew him. It was almost surreal,” Saidah Lewis said. “I couldn’t believe I was in the presence of such a great man and to have it documented that he was

holding my daughter. She didn’t understand then, but with time she is going to understand who this great man was and the memories that she will have from that moment.”

Since the death of John Lewis on July 17, traditional and social media have been filled with stories about and tributes to the longtime congressman and civil rights icon.

But the social media presence has been special. Dozens, if not hundreds of photographs have been posted of Lewis with snapshots of ordinary people.

At grocery stores. In malls. In his office. In the park. At the airport.

If you had a camera and John Lewis, chances are, you have a photograph with him.

Lewis’ younger brother Henry Grant Lewis mused that a 10-minute trip to the grocery store would turn into a three-hour mission, because he would shake every hand and pose for every picture. “That is the kind of person my brother was.”

And that is why, two years after bumping into Lewis at Atlantic Station, the now 4-year-old Phoenix and her father Zena visited the John Lewis mural in downtown Atlanta.

Along with a bouquet of flowers, she carried with her a framed photo of her and the congressman.

“It is very powerful that we have that image,” Zena Lewis said.

Phoenix carefully placed the flowers at the foot of the memorial.

She also left the photo — as a gift.

In 2018, 2-year-old Phoenix Lewis and mom Saidah bumped into John Lewis and took a photo with him. To mark his passing, Phoenix visited his mural and left flowers — and the photo.