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📍 John Lewis grew up on a small farm in Alabama, tending chickens; as a child, he practiced preaching to them, and joked later that “some listened better than people.” 📚 At age 15 he was inspired by hearing Martin Luther King Jr. on the radio and wrote him a letter – King sent him a bus ticket to meet in person. 🚍 He became one of the original 13 Freedom Riders in 1961, challenging segregated interstate travel at the risk of his life. ✊ By his early 20s he had been arrested more than 40 times for non-violent civil-rights protests. 🗣️ At the 1963 March on Washington, he was the youngest speaker, standing alongside King; he was only 23. 💥 The 1965 “Bloody Sunday” attack left him with a skull fracture – doctors initially doubted he would survive. 🏛️ He was elected to Congress in 1986 and served 17 consecutive terms until his death in 2020. 📚 He co-authored the March graphic-novel trilogy, which won the National Book Award, becoming the first graphic novel ever to do so. 🎧 Young readers often discovered March through audio adaptations that Lewis helped record himself. 🏆 In addition to the Medal of Freedom, he received honorary degrees from more than 50 universities. 🌉 He returned to Selma nearly every year for commemorations and often walked across the bridge arm-in-arm with young activists. 🕊️ In Congress he was known for promoting “good trouble” – necessary disruption to challenge injustice. 📖 His memoir Walking with the Wind is widely taught in schools and colleges. 🎨 Artists frequently depicted him with angel wings or a glowing bridge in murals across Atlanta. 🤣 He once joked that if Congress won’t listen, he’ll “go back to preaching to chickens – they interrupt less.”