His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham focuses on the impact Lewis, who died earlier this year, had up through the passage of the Civil Rights Act, with Meacham citing the passage of the Act that he helped bring about as one of the key events of the 20th Century.
Lewis began his activism with sit ins trying to integrate lunch counters in Nashville and then he and fellow Freedom Riders pushed for integrated interstate travel throughout the South. It was remarkable how steadfast he and his compatriots were in their commitment to non-violence in pursuit of their just cause. Lewis was arrested forty-five times over the course of his life, suffered a fractured skull and repeatedly beaten and tear-gassed. He simply kept going, resolute in his belief that the world could be a just place, and he was willing to sacrifice himself to help make it so.
The image on the cover of the book is from the Bloody Sunday March in 1965, at the beginning of a trek from Selma to Montgomery to protest the exclusion of African Americans from the voting booths, a violation of the 15th amendment. Lewis and other non-violent marchers were attacked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama by police and hooligans, and images from it helped press President Lyndon Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Act, guaranteeing federal protection for things like voting rights. Just as Lewis was on the right side of history, people who opposed his efforts, like law enforcement officers Jim Clark and Bull Connor were on the wrong side; Lewis went to Congress, Clark went on to sell mobile homes.
Lewis was moved by love, not by hate. His was a belief in the beloved community, a concept spoken of by Martin Luther King, Jr. and described by Lewis as the Christian concept of the Kingdom of God on earth. It was truly noble sacrifice by the great man, giving of himself for a cause, and the epilogue of the book titled Against the Rulers of the Darkness and features an afterword by Lewis about what's happing in the country today.
