U.S. Rep. John Lewis, considered one of the most significant figures of the American civil rights movement, will appear at Brenau University’s Pearce Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Lewis, who represents Georgia's 5th congressional district, will also sign books – which will be for sale for those who wish to purchase them – in Sellars Gallery, adjacent to the auditorium, following his presentation.
There is no charge for the event. However, seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis to the public after members of the Brenau Women’s College first-year class are seated. The students collectively read Lewis' illustrated book MARCH as a common reader assignment for their required seminar for all members of the Class of 2019.
Lewis’ appearance at Brenau occurs during the week celebrating the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jr. Lewis served as one of King’s chief lieutenants during the 1960s for field work and demonstrations throughout the Southeast. He is the last surviving member of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders who helped put together King’s famous March on Washington in 1963.
“It is a great honor for our institution to host Congressman Lewis on this occasion,” said Brenau University President Ed Schrader. “He is a true American hero who has shed blood and dedicated his life to public service and to win basic human rights for all.”
The university’s first-year seminar for the 2015-16 academic year focused on the civil rights era, with Lewis’ best-seller book as a central text. It is part of a planned three-volume set using the graphic novel approach to storytelling that was co-authored by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, the congressman’s technology policy aide, and illustrated by Indiana artist Nate Powell. The first volume chronicles Lewis’ early years, from his childhood on a sharecropper farm in Pike County, Alabama, to his ascension to the chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1963.
Brenau’s first-year students typically get an opportunity to meet with authors of common readers, which have included Khaled Hosseini, Katherine Stockett and, in 2014, President Jimmy Carter, who hosted the group for a special presentation at The Carter Center in Atlanta. Lewis’ schedule could not accommodate a meeting during the fall term, however, and it looked like it was not going to happen.
However, Quanesha Davis, a senior history and political science major from Decatur, Georgia, who interned with the university’s department of Student Services, drafted a letter to Lewis, asking him to come to campus and got it signed by every first-year seminar student.
She explained how deeply MARCH and Lewis’ life story had influenced the semester’s activities, shaping the fall’s leadership retreat, on-campus events and freshman courses at the Women’s College.
“Once I learned the students would be reading his book and discussing his accomplishments, I had to reach out to him to let him know how much he had impacted Brenau this year,” Davis said.
Lewis has represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District since 1987.
The program begins at 5:30 p.m. Pearce Auditorium is at 202 Boulevard in Gainesville.
