Honoring John Lewis: Americans paid tribute to the congressman and civil rights leader today in Washington, DC.
Capitol ceremony: Lewis is the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, according to congressional historians. Lying in state is a tribute reserved for the most distinguished government officials and military officers. A public viewing took place outdoors as a precaution due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Final crossing: Lewis’ body traveled across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama one last time yesterday. The Selma bridge is where he helped lead the 1965 march for voting rights.
Lewis will lie in state in the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday
From CNN's Clare Foran
People pay their respects to the late Rep. John Lewis as he lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC.
Matt McClain/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Following today’s ceremony in Washington, DC, Rep. John Lewis will lie in state in the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday.
On Thursday, there will be a “celebration of life” at Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary in Atlanta, followed by interment at South-View Cemetery.
Due to the pandemic, the family is also encouraging people to organize “John Lewis Virtual Love Events” to watch the events at home via livestream.
Ahead of the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday, the House approved a measure offered by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn to rename a House-passed voting rights bill after Lewis.
The House passed the measure in December that would restore a key part of the historic Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. Democrats have pushed the Republican-controlled Senate to take up the legislation following Lewis’ death.
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Vice President Mike Pence pays his respects to Lewis
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence pay their respects to Rep. John Lewis in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen visited at the US Capitol east front steps to pay their respects to civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson joined the Pences.
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The public viewing for John Lewis has started
From CNN's Keith Allen
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. John Lewis’ casket has been transferred from the US Capitol Rotunda to the top of the east front steps.
The public viewing of Lewis’ casket has started and will continue until 10 p.m. ET.
The family asked attendees to wear face and mouth coverings. Signs outside the Capitol were set up to remind visitors to wear masks.
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Joe Biden visits Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to civil rights icon John Lewis
Pool
Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill paid their respects to Rep. John Lewis at the US Capitol Rotunda today.
The couple spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during their visit to the Rotunda.
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor pays her respects to Rep. John Lewis
US Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor pays her respects to Rep. John Lewis at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
Shawn Thew/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited the Capitol Rotunda today to pay her respects to civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.
Lewis is the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, according to congressional historians.
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Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in US Capitol Rotunda
From CNN's Clare Foran
The casket of Rep. John Lewis arrives for a memorial service in the Capitol Rotunda on July 27 in Washington, DC.
Shawn Thew/Pool/Getty Images
Lawmakers and the American public are paying their respects to the civil rights icon and late congressman, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, on Monday as his body lies in state at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Lewis is the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, according to congressional historians.
Last year, the late Rep. Elijah Cummings made history as the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol when his body was lain in state in Statuary Hall.
Lying in state is a tribute reserved for the most distinguished government officials and military officers, while lying in honor is a distinction given to private citizens.
Two African Americans have lain in honor: civil rights icon Rosa Parks and Officer Jacob J. Chestnut Jr., a Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty.
Lewis’ body is now laying in state following an invitation-only arrival ceremony earlier today. A military honor guard escorted the casket up the steps of the Capitol and carried it into the Rotunda.
A public viewing will take place outdoors later this evening as a precaution due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Statuary Hall guests now paying respects to Lewis
From CNN's Keith Allen
Guests who were in the National Statuary Hall during the Capitol Rotunda service for Rep. John Lewis are now being escorted into the Rotunda to pay their respects to the late civil rights icon.
Members of the House of Representatives not invited to the Rotunda service will then be escorted from the House chamber by Sergeant at Arms staff to pay their respects in groups of 72 at a time.
Members of Lewis’ family, along with Congressional leadership, have already paid their respects at his casket.
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US lawmakers surround Lewis' casket as he lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda
Several members of Congress gathered around Rep. John Lewis’ casket Monday to pay their final respects following the ceremony.
The small invite-only ceremony wrapped following remarks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A recording of Lewis delivering a speech was also played and drew applause from those in attendance.
Rev. Wintley Phipps performed “Amazing Grace” and “It is Well with My Soul.”
Later tonight, the public will be able to pay their respects to Lewis as he lies in state. The viewing will start at 6 p.m. ET and ends at 10 p.m. ET.
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Pelosi: "God truly blessed America with the life and leadership of John Lewis"
U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks as Rep. John Lewis lies in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on July 27.
Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called Rep. John Lewis the “Conscience of the Congress,” honored the life of her former colleague during a ceremony held at the Capitol.
Pelosi said that while Lewis used his past experiences as a source of strength and inspiration, he also looked to young people as a vehicle to bring change for the next generation.
“John focussed on the future, on how to inspire the next generation to join the fight for justice. In his quote, ‘to find a way to get in the way,’” Pelosi said.
She said that as one of the youngest leaders of the Freedom Riders, Lewis “understood the power of young people to change the future.”
“When asked what someone can do who is 19 or 20 years old, the age he was when he set out to desegregate Nashville, Lewis replied, ‘a young person should be speaking out for what is fair, what is just, what is right. Speak out for those who have been left out and left behind. That is how the movement goes forward,’” Pelosi said.
Pelosi also introduced audio from Rep. Lewis’ 2014 Emory Commencement Address, simply saying, “It is my personal privilege right now for me to yield to our beloved colleague the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, Congressman John Lewis.”
After Lewis’s recorded remarks, the Rotunda audience gave him a standing ovation.
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McConnell: Lewis "lived and worked with urgency"
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during a memorial service for Rep. John Lewis in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 27.
Matt McClain/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell paid tribute to Rep. John Lewis at a Capitol ceremony today, saying he was a hero the nation “needed so badly.”
The Kentucky Republican recalled Lewis’ fight for civil rights and an end to oppression.
“John’s friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. But that is never automatic,” he said.
McConnell continued: “History only bent towards what’s right because people like John paid the price to help bend it. He paid that price at every Nashville lunch counter where his leadership made segregation impossible to ignore. He paid it in every jail cell where he waited out hatred and oppression. He paid that price in harassment and beatings from a bus station in South Carolina to the Edmund Pettus Bridge.”
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Pastor: We pray the Edmund Pettus Bridge will one day be the John Lewis bridge
Rev. Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr. invoked the names of George Floyd and Emmett Till while speaking at a Capitol ceremony honoring the life of Rep. John Lewis.
Browning thanked Lewis, a civil rights icon who marched for in the 1960s before being elected to Congress, for making sure Floyd, who was killed my police earlier this year, and Till, a 14-year-old boy savagely killed in Mississippi in 1955, did not die in vain.
“We want to say thank you, from Emmett Till to George Floyd, say thank you for allowing our deaths not to be in vain,” Browning said.
Browning also nodded to the movement to name the Alabama bridge where Lewis was beaten during a 1965 civil rights march after the late congressman.
Trump won't pay his respects to John Lewis in Capitol
From CNN's Kevin Liptak
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before departing from the White House in Washington, DC, on July 27.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
President Trump said he won’t pay his respects to Rep. John Lewis as he lies in state at the US Capitol.
“No I won’t be going, no,” Trump said when asked whether he would travel either later Monday or Tuesday to honor the late congressman and civil rights icon.
Earlier Monday, the White House said Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen would pay their respects to Lewis on Monday evening at the Capitol building.
Trump offered brief words on condolence on Twitter after Lewis’ passing last weekend and ordered flags lowered for a day.
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Navy pallbearer faints outside Capitol ahead of Lewis ceremony
From CNN's Kristin Wilson
A member of a US military honor guard is checked on after collapsing in the heat of the day as a hearse carrying the casket of civil rights pioneer and longtime US Representative John Lewis arrives outside the US Capitol prior to the start of the ceremony preceding the lying in state of John Lewis in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 27.
Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
While waiting to retrieve the casket of Rep. John Lewis, one of the military pallbearers — in Navy dress whites — fainted.
They had been standing at attention on the East Front Plaza for nearly an hour.
It is currently 94 degrees in Washington, according to the National Weather Service.
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John Lewis' casket is being carried up the Capitol steps
The casket of the late Rep. John Lewis is being carried up the Capitol steps by a group of service members.
Once inside the Capitol’s Rotunda, there will be a small invite-only ceremony to honor the civil rights icon’s life and legacy.
Later today, members of the public will be able to view Lewis’ casket as he lies in state.
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Lawmakers wear masks and sit apart at ceremony to honor Lewis
California Rep. Maxine Waters waits prior to the start of the ceremony preceding the lying in state of Rep. John Lewis in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Matt McClain / Pool / AFP/Getty Images
Members of Congress were wearing masks and sitting apart from each other ahead of a ceremony to honor the life of Rep. John Lewis.
Some lawmakers donned makes with the words “Good Trouble” — a phrase that Lewis often repeated to counsel people on the need for “good trouble, necessary trouble.”
Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat from Georgia, talks to a colleague ahead of a ceremony for Rep. John Lewis at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
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Lewis' motorcade arrives at the Capitol
Rep. John Lewis’ motorcade has arrived at the Capitol, where an invitation-only arrival ceremony is beginning shortly.
Lewis’ body will lie in state and a public viewing will take place outdoors as a precaution due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, the procession paused at the rear entrance to the Supreme Court.
“Equal justice under law” is engraved above the front entrance of the building.
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Late congressman's motorcade passes Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
From CNN's Chris Boyette
Rep. John Lewis’ motorcade has driven past the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building on its way to the US Capitol.
Lewis worked on Kennedy’s presidential campaign and later introduced legislation that authorized the renaming of the DOJ building for Robert Kennedy.
The motorcade also drove past the National Council of Negro Women.
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Lewis' motorcade passes the National Museum of African American History and Culture
From CNN's Chris Boyette
Rep. John Lewis’ motorcade just passed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on its way to the US Capitol.
Lewis’ motorcade is making its way to the Capitol for a ceremony.
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"Amazing Grace" plays as Lewis' motorcade stops at Black Lives Matter Plaza
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
The late Rep. John Lewis’ motorcade stopped at Black Lives Matter Plaza, just steps from the White House in Washington, DC, and the site of Lewis’ last public appearance.
Today, Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser presented the congressman’s son, John Miles Lewis, and other family members with a Black Lives Matter Plaza street sign as a bluesy rendition of “Amazing Grace” played in the background.
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Lewis' motorcade briefly stops at MLK Memorial and Lincoln Memorial
From CNN's Chris Boyette
A motorcade carrying Rep. John Lewis’ body briefly stopped at the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial on its way to the US Capitol.
King, a friend and mentor to Lewis, worked alongside the late congressman during the civil rights movements in 1960s.
In 2014 Lewis described hearing King speaking about Rosa Parks over the radio.
“It seemed like Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking directly to me, saying John Lewis, you too can do something. You can make a contribution,” Lewis said.
After stopping briefly at the MLK memorial, Lewis’ motorcade stopped by the Lincoln Memorial.
At the age of 23 Lewis was a keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He was the last living speaker from that event.
“We do not want our freedom gradually; we want to be free now,” Lewis said at the time.
