John Lewis

In August of 1963, while Steve Schapiro was on assignment in Mississippi for Life magazine photographing Civil Rights Movement leaders, including Fannie Lou Hamer and James Baldwin. While in Clarksdale, MS, John Lewis was bringing a group of ministers to a church when Steve Schapiro recognized Lewis from his time as a Freedom Rider. Lewis would later serve in the U.S. Congress, representing Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death in 2020. TIME magazine used Schapiro’s photograph for their 2020 cover celebrating the life of Rep. Lewis. Schapiro told the magazine. “It’s a picture of someone who knows who he is, knows what he has to do, and for the rest of his life, after this picture, he did it.”