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2020.07.29 05:28 GMT+8

Photo highlights from John Lewis' life and history

Updated 2020.07.29 05:28 GMT+8
CGTN

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John Lewis, a civil rights pioneer and longtime member of Congress, died last week at the age of 80.

His casket arrived at its place of honor inside U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday. He will be laid to rest Thursday in Atlanta.

Colleagues were able to honor the 17-term congressman from Georgia during a private ceremony.

Due to the pandemic, public viewing is taking place outdoors. Visitors lined up to pay their respects outside the U.S. Capitol.

Lewis played a vital role in the country's civil rights movement of the 1960s and was revered as one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders, which included the country’s best-known Black leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Having met King when he was just 18, Lewis also became King's protege. 

At the 1963 March on Washington, where King famously delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, Lewis also spoke, the youngest of all civil rights activists there to do so.

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