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Across That Bridge
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Across That Bridge

A Vision for Change and the Future of America

John Lewis
Hachette Book Group USA, 2017
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Visionary
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

As the child of sharecroppers, the late Congressman John Lewis helped his parents grow corn, peanuts and cotton. In this engaging memoir, he details his journey through rural Alabama, the 1960s-era voting rights protests and the halls of Congress. With vivid details and a front-row perspective, Lewis, who died July 18, 2020, provides more than a memoir about the early civil rights movement and its leaders. By offering a spiritual and practical discussion about bigotry, discrimination and the quest for truth, Lewis provides a map for change.

Summary

John Lewis views faith as the bedrock of the civil rights movement.

Students, fans and supporters of the civil rights movement repeatedly ask Congressman John Lewis the same question: “How did you do it?”Some wonder how Lewis and his peers pursued civil rights goals when they faced racism, police violence and jail sentences.Others ask how activists remained faithful to their lofty goals in the face of brutal hypocrisy. Over the decades, his answer remained the same: “Faith.”

Faith motivated Rosa Parks, who famously refused to surrender her seat to a white person on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Some mistakenly believe that mere fatigue prompted Parks, a seamstress, to refuse to leave her seat. The truth is more complex, and springs from Parks’s faith. Parks drew motivation from her long-time position as local secretary for the NAACP – the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From that organization, Parks learned about events and protests that activists designed to spotlight segregation on the public transit system. 

Additionally, Parks attended religious and community-development...

About the Author

The late Congressman John Lewis was a civil rights leader, best-selling author, and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Lifetime Achievement Award.

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