John Lewis

Death nor time can hold John Lewis to the grave, he belongs to the ages, he is American history – past and present.

Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis is this year’s recipient of the Preston Robert Tisch Award in Civic Leadership. During the awards ceremony, Lewis talked with NPR’s Michel Martin about why racism still exists within American society, saying there is “a deliberate, almost systematic attempt to sweep the issue of race under the American rug.” However, Lewis expressed confidence in today’s youth to keep pushing for a post-racial society.

Hearing civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis speak about his experiences in Selma, Alabama, at lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the March on Washington is undeniably moving and inspiring. But hearing him describe the minute details of those seminal events — and his personal story that led him there — transported an Aspen Institute audience back to a time, not too long ago, that serves as a lingering reminder of why we should never forget the evils of discrimination and segregation.

At the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival, the congressman and civil rights leader reflected on his experience protesting during the Jim Crow era.