John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist and leader who served in the Un...
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist and leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966.
Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States.
In 1965, Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked the marchers, including Lewis.
A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to Congress in 1986 and served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district he represented included most of Atlanta. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. While in the House, Lewis was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party, serving from 1991 as a Chief Deputy Whip and from 2003 as a Senior Chief Deputy Whip. John Lewis received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lewis also stood up for the injustice of other communities, including the Jewish community. In the wake of the 2014 Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting Lewis stated: "It is deeply tragic that such senseless brutality should occur on the eve of Passover, the time when Jews all over the world remember their liberation from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago." Lewis was called a “hero,” a “mensch” and “a special gift to the Jewish community” by those who knew and interacted with him.
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Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. Representative for California's 28th congress...
Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. Representative for California's 28th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Schiff is currently in his 10th term as a congressman, having served since 2001.
Schiff's district (numbered as the 27th from 2001 to 2003 and as the 29th from 2003 to 2013) has been centered in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles, including Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank. For his first six terms, he represented a district that included the areas of Alhambra, Altadena, San Gabriel, Burbank, Glendale, South Pasadena, Temple City, Monterey Park, and Pasadena. In 2010, his district's boundaries were re-drawn to include, among others, La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta-Montrose as well as large portions of Los Angeles itself including Sunland-Tujunga, Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills, West Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz.
He currently serves as chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He is currently on leave from the House Appropriations Committee, which he joined in 2007. He previously served on the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee and the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.
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