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Answering the Call of Conscience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2021

Obie Clayton Jr.
Obie Clayton Jr.*
Affiliation:
Distinguished Professor, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, United States
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Abstract

This essay shows how three institutions—family, religion, and education—coalesced to shape the moral life of John Lewis. Lewis was born into a very religious, though uneducated, family who wished to see their son receive the education they were denied. The young Lewis took their zeal for education and religion into seminary and later college. It was in college that Lewis developed an intolerance for discrimination and came to champion the civil and human rights of all individuals. His call of conscience would not condone the suffering and abuse being generated by a segregated society. This passion for human rights led to his rising into prominence in the political arena, where many referred to him as the “conscience of the nation.”

Keywords

civil rightsconsciencemoralityequalityjustice
Type
Essay Roundtable: John R. Lewis's Legacies in Law and Religion
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 33 - 36
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University

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References

1 Clayton, Obie Jr., ed., An American Dilemma Revisited: Race Relations in a Changing World (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996), 191–93Google Scholar.

2 John Lewis, interview by Kim Lawton, Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly, PBS, January 16, 2004, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2004/01/16/january-16-2004-john-lewis-extended-interview/2897/.

3 “Lewis, John,” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, accessed September 22, 2021, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/lewis-john.

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6 Coppola, “The Parable of Julian Bond and John Lewis.”

7 Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President Honoring the Recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom” (transcript), The White House, February 15, 2011, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/15/remarks-president-honoring-recipients-2010-medal-freedom.

8 Ken Sugar, “Cuban Inmates in Atlanta Prison Ask for Witnesses to Agreement,” United Press International, November 29, 1987.

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10 Kristine F. Anderson, “Plans for ’96 Olympics in Atlanta Threatened by Large Gay Protest over Site Selection,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 1994, https://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0513/13032.html.

11 Anderson, “Plans for ’96 Olympics Threatened.”

12 Lewis, Across That Bridge, 10.

13 William Douglas, “Rep. John Lewis Busted for 45th Time,” McClatchy DC Bureau, October 8, 2013, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24756802.html.

14 Douglas, “Rep. John Lewis Busted for 45th Time.”

15 John Lewis, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” New York Times, July 30, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html.