Ossoff pushing for postage stamp to honor John Lewis

Caption

Rep. John Lewis died in July of last year at the age of 80. He represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for more than 30 years after serving as a civil rights activist.

Credit: Stephen Fowler/GPB file photo

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is leading the push for a new postage stamp honoring the late Congressman John Lewis.

Ossoff is urging the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend approval of a stamp highlighting the Atlanta Democrat’s legacy as a leader and champion for civil and human rights.

“Congressman Lewis was an American hero, civil rights icon, and revered citizen of Georgia, fully deserving of this honor,” Ossoff wrote in a letter late last month.  “His courage serves as an extraordinary example of civic leadership, and continues to inspire young Americans to serve their communities and build a better world.”

Lewis died in July of last year at the age of 80. He represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for more than 30 years after serving as a civil rights activist.

Lewis was beaten severely by Alabama state police in 1965 while on a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., an incident that came to be known as Bloody Sunday and was instrumental in congressional passage of the federal Voting Rights Act later that year.

In a separate move to honor Lewis, a committee in the Georgia House of Representatives approved a resolution last February calling for placing a statue of Lewis inside the U.S. Capitol. While the resolution did not get a floor vote during this year’s legislative session, it remains alive for consideration in 2022.

The Lewis statue would replace the statue of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens of Georgia inside the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.