John Lewis to be honored on US postage stamp next year
Dec 13, 2022, 1:10 PM
A new stamp celebrates the life of US Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights legend and longtime congressman. (US Postal Service)
(US Postal Service)
(CNN) — The late civil rights trailblazer and congressman John Lewis will be honored on a new postage stamp in 2023, the US Postal Service announced Tuesday.
The Georgia Democrat, who dedicated his life to activism and spent more than three decades in Congress fighting for civil rights, will be featured on a stamp using a photograph taken for a 2013 issue of Time magazine, USPS said in a statement. The photograph was taken by Marco Grob.
A follower and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis participated in lunch counter sit-ins, joined the Freedom Riders in challenging segregated buses and, at 23, was a keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington.
“Even in the face of hatred and violence, as well as some 45 arrests, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call ‘good trouble,'” the USPS announcement said.
Lewis was widely seen as a moral conscience of Congress because of his nonviolent fight for civil rights. His death in 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer prompted an outpouring of tributes from politicians, world leaders and former presidents.
The U.S. Postal Service just announced that my friend and predecessor Congressman John Lewis will be honored on a new postage stamp next year! Let it always remind us to get in the #GoodTrouble that Congressman Lewis taught us. pic.twitter.com/20CAnW9vjs
— Congresswoman Nikema Williams (@RepNikema) December 13, 2022
Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, a Democrat who introduced and passed a resolution honoring the life of Lewis, has voiced support for commemorating him with a stamp.
“Congressman Lewis was an American hero, civil rights icon, and revered citizen of Georgia, fully deserving of this honor,” Ossoff said in a statement last year.
CNN previously reported in October that the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who also died in 2020, will be honored in 2023 as well. The USPS has yet to announce when the stamps will be released next year.
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