USA mourn John Lewis
The congressman and civil rights activist fought until the very end for a fairer America and against racism - initially alongside Martin Luther King. Now Lewis succumbed to cancer at the age of 80.

John Lewis (1940-2020)

The death of John Lewis has caused dismay in the United States. Lewis Pelican said "one of the greatest heroes in American history has died," said House Representative Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic Party politician "was a titan of the civil rights movement, the kindness, trust and courage that changed our nation". The civil rights activist, who died at the age of 80 in Atlanta, Georgia, was the "conscience of the congress," said Pelosi.

Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell praised Lewis as "a civil rights pioneer who risked his life to fight racism, promote equality, and bring our nation more in tune with its founding principles."

Obama's "hero"

Barack Obama, the only black president in America's 244-year history, recalled how much Lewis had shaped his own life. When he first met as a student, he called him "his hero". "When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him before being sworn in and told him I was only there for the sacrifices he made," Obama wrote in a short obituary. "He loved his country so much that he risked his life and blood to live up to his promise."

2015: Barack Obama (M.) - next to him John Lewis - on the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday"

"We lost a giant," said ex-president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary in a joint statement. "John Lewis gave everything he had to live up to America's unfulfilled promise of equality and justice for all."

"I have a dream"

According to media reports, John Lewis was the last surviving speaker of the legendary "March on Washington" on August 28, 1963. At the age of 23 he was standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the federal capital to share with Martin Luther King (1929-1968 ) to call for an end to racial discrimination in the US in front of more than 200,000 listeners. The Baptist pastor and later Nobel Peace Prize winner King made the famous speech "I have a Dream" at the time.

1963: Martin Luther King's speech in Washington went down in history

Two years later, Lewis almost died in a brutal police operation against participants in a peace march from the city of Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. He suffered a broken skull on the day that went down in US history as "Bloody Sunday". Fifty years later - in 2015 - he returned to Selma with President Obama at the time and recalled the events of 1965. Most recently, Lewis battled pancreatic cancer, which he was diagnosed with in late 2019.

Lewis, who has represented the Democratic Party in Congress for decades, was also a critic of President Donald Trump. The latter ordered the flags to be lowered at half mast above the White House and over public buildings in the country - "as a sign of respect". He and his wife Melania would include Lewis and his family in their prayers, Trump tweeted.