Rep. John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon, Awarded Highest Civilian Honor

medaloffreedomjohn lewis

Rep. John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon,  Awarded Highest Civilian Honor

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Civil Rights Hero  Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.)  has been awarded the highest honor  civilian - the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  He was granted the 2010 Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama Feb. 15.  The award is “presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” according to the White House.

Lewis is best known for his work with the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee, largely responsible for sit-in protests. Lewis was injured when a police officer attacked and struck him in the head on "bloody Sunday", March 7, 1965, during the march across the famous Edmund Pettus bridge in a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

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  • Warren Buffett
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  • Jasper Johns
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  • Gerda Weissmann Klein
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  • Yo-Yo Ma
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  • Sylvia Mendez
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  • Stan Musial
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  • Bill Russell
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  • Jean Kennedy Smith
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  • John J. Sweeney
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