Congressman often caused a stir on internet

In honor of the civil rights icon’s 79th birthday in 2019, the AJC decided to dig through the web for some of Lewis’ most viral internet moments in recent years.

Here are five times Lewis had the internet buzzing:

1. His super moment at Atlanta’s Super Bowl

Lewis joined fellow Atlanta leaders Bernice King and Andrew Young for the coin toss before the city’s mega showdown between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams in 2019.

While many viewers raved about an inspiring vision, others argued the league had used the African American icons “as props” in light of its backlash against former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s #TakeAKnee protests against police brutality toward blacks.

But some Twitter users reminded the public that Lewis had been “taking a knee for 57 years.”

2. That time he marched across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge with a 10-year-old fan on the 53rd anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Fourth grader Tybre Faw of Johnson City, Tennessee, traveled seven hours with his grandmother to Selma, Alabama, to join his hero in March 2018.

According to the Tennessean, “Lewis invited him to join the annual commemorative march across the Edmond Pettus Bridge, where Lewis and others were beaten in 1965 by Alabama state troopers who had ordered them to disperse.”

“It showed me that it doesn’t matter what your age is, how old you are, you can still be active in standing up for what you’re supposed to be for,” the 10-year-old said.

3. When he visited the Black Lives Matter street mural in Washington

Lewis made an early morning stop at Washington’s 16th Street to take in a new mural authorized by Mayor Muriel Bowser in early June 2020.

A reporter for the local Fox affiliate caught his reaction to the two-block-long art piece that includes the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”

“It’s very moving. Very moving. Impressive,” Lewis said.

4. When he led a gun control sit-in on the House floor after the June 2016 Orlando massacre

Lewis led the sit-in on the House floor to try to force gun control legislation after the June 12, 2016, Orlando, Florida, attack that left 49 people dead and 53 others wounded.

“Sitting there on the floor, I felt like I was reliving my life all over again,” he said to reporters. “During the ’60s the sit-ins started with three or four people, and they spread like wildfire. This will spread.”

Though the sit-in gained national praise on social media, Lewis and other Democrats faced an ethics complaint for fundraising off the protest.

Members of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, an independent, conservative-leaning ethics watchdog group, called for investigations into several of the sit-in participants.

“This type of behavior is precisely why the public distrusts elected officials,” the complaint states.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan called the effort a “political stunt.”

5. That time President Donald Trump called him out on Twitter and Atlantans weren’t having it

In 2017, after Lewis publicly announced he would skip Donald Trump’s inauguration because he didn’t see him as a “legitimate president,” Trump attacked the Georgia congressman’s 5th District.

“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Trump tweeted. The backlash against Lewis didn’t go over too well in Atlanta. Lewis continued to boycott Trump’s speeches.

KHALID NAJI-ALLAH / EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR On June 7, U.S. Rep. John Lewis looks over a section of 16th Street in Washington, D.C., that’s been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. “It’s very moving. Very moving. Impressive,” Lewis said of the two-block-long mural.