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Netflix Streams Documentary Featuring Civil Rights Leader John Lewis

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John Lewis is one of the few architects of the modern Civil Rights Movement still living, having moved from the firebrand voice of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to Congressman from Georgia to elder statesman of today’s social justice leadership. His extraordinary life is the subject of a Netflix documentary which starts streaming on Friday, July 3.

Amid the recent weeks of protests following the murder of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer videotaped kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, Congress Lewis tweeted, “I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness…”

On the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965 law enforcement officers beat a young John Lewis and dozens of marchers headed to Montgomery, the state capital, where they planned to press their case for voting rights. Lewis suffered a skull fracture that day which is known as ‘Bloody Sunday.’

Political Science professor Dr. Sekou Franklin says, “He was part of a leadership cadre of extraordinary people. Part of the challenge that we have is we have to balance our profound appreciation of John Lewis, and if we stop there, we will mythologize John Lewis.”

Franklin mentions Charley Cobb, Diane Nash, James Lawson, C.T. Vivian, Wyatt T. Walker, and Dorothy Cotton as contemporaries of Lewis and believes they are also worthy subjects for documentaries.

Decades after Selma, Congressman John Lewis is pushing for major policing reforms in America, tweeting his support just days ago for the #JusticeInPolicing Act.

Washington, D.C. is a long way from the Troy, Alabama farm where he grew up and his parents were sharecroppers. Listening to radio reports of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, Lewis says he decided to become involved in the efforts to advance justice for Black Americans. He graduated from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville and then received his bachelor’s degree from Fisk University.

Both academic institutions are close to Middle Tennessee State where Franklin teaches. According to Franklin, Lewis learned his nonviolent techniques from James Lawson.

“One of my mentors is James Lawson,” Franklin says. “He was the principal figure who trained the national movement…Lewis came out of the Nashville movement.”

Now, at the age of 80, John Lewis is widely considered an American hero for his lifetime of moral courage. In December Congressman he disclosed he is battling pancreatic cancer but has remained committed to his work on Capitol Hill and around the country, fighting for equality as he did decades ago with SNCC.

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Trump Signs Executive Orders That Will Impact HBCUs and Black Schoolchildren

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and establish a White House Initiative on HBCUs to “deliver high-quality education to a growing number of students.”

According to the White House, the Initiative will help develop private-sector partnerships, institutional development and workforce preparation in technology, health care, manufacturing and finance. 

The president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Dr. Harry L. Williams said, “Today’s executive order serves as strong reaffirmation of President Trump’s support of investment of historically Black colleges and universities. This executive order should serve as a call-to-action for corporations, foundations, members of Congress and state lawmakers to redouble their efforts to support HBCUs and their students. TMCF looks forward to continued engagement with the administration and Congress to deliver results for HBCUs and the students they serve via appropriations and other legislative actions.”

On the same day, Trump signed another executive order that removes safeguards for African American schoolchildren by eliminating an Obama-era initiative to protect Black schoolchildren from excessive disciplinary action.

During the Obama administration, the first Black president’s administration created guidelines that sought to prevent school discipline from having a disproportionate effect on minority students. Trump revoked the civil rights initiative during his first term and Biden did not formally restore it. 

At his signing today, Trump said his decision was especially important to the current Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who held the signed order.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,” McMahon said in a statement. “Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety – encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion.”

She added, “Disciplinary decisions should be based solely on students’ behavior and actions.

Studies show that Black students are punished more often than their white counterparts.

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President Jimmy Carter Appointed the First Black Woman to Lead a Federal Agency

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President Jimmy Carter advanced opportunities for African Americans throughout his life,
advocating for justice and peace consistent with the Christian values he embraced. Since his
death on December 29 at age 100, Mr. Carter’s praises have been sung from his home state of
Georgia to points around the globe. And while the former president’s one-term in the White
House is dismissed by some political pundits for a lack of policies or accomplishments that
changed the course of history, his character and integrity set him apart.


Carter became the first president to appoint a Black woman head of a federal agency. He chose
Patricia Roberts Harris to lead the Housing and Urban Development when he took office in
1977.


Harris said, “I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier, but also a little sad about being the ‘first Negro woman,’ because it implies we were not
considered before.”


Senator William Proxmire questioned Carter’s choice, saying Harris came from too much wealth and influence to be an effective leader. But Carter stood by his decision, and Harris stayed in the position for two years.


The 39th president’s name is also included on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.


Civil rights activist, Rev. Al Sharpton recalled a conversation he shared with Carter.


“It was very significant, I was talking there at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, and I was talking to President Clinton and President Carter,” Sharpton recalled. “And when Clinton and I finished talking, President Carter touched me on my arm and said, ‘How are you doing with your ministry, Al? I see you out there with your activism. Don’t leave your ministry … keep your prayer life going.’ And you could tell he sincerely meant it. He was not one who talked about his religion as a political kind of something you could say to voters.”


President Joe Biden declared January 9, 2025, a national day of mourning. Millions watched the former president’s funeral on television as he was remembered as a man of honesty,
compassion and faith – which included championing the rights of Americans who knew firsthand the struggle of injustice

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The Congressional Black Caucus Prepares for “Important” Work

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The Congressional Black Caucus started the 119th Congress with its largest membership. There were 62 members sworn in today.

“On behalf of the entire Congressional Black Caucus, congratulations to the members of the Executive Committee of the 119th Congress. 53 years after our Caucus’ founding, our work to improve the lives and conditions of Black people in America is more important than ever before,” said CBC President Steven Horsford.

Photo Credit: Ron Busby, U.S. Black Chambers Inc.

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