This photograph shows politician and Civil Rights leader John Lewis kneeling in prayer in front of a segregated swimming pool in 1962 while local white people shouted and harassed the activists. Lewis, who died last week at the age of 80, had become a living legend for his decades of involvement in Civil Rights protests and activism — from being a member of the original Freedom Riders in the early 1960s to his decades of service in the US Congress. In 2018 Lewis tweeted, "Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
Danny Lyon, a photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who photographed many important moments of the Civil Rights era, took this photograph of Lewis in Cairo, Illinois. He later said that Lewis was “somebody [who] put action where their mouth was.”
Reflection Prompts:
- What is one thing you can do to make "good trouble, necessary trouble" in your personal life? In your city? In your workplace or school?
- Lyon's image of John Lewis kneeling projects a feeling of calm during an intense, chaotic period in U.S. history. What might we learn from that as we experience the intensity of our current moment? Is there strength we can draw from this?