John Lewis is an authentic American hero, a modest man from the most humble of beginnings who left a rural
Alabama cotton farm 40 years ago and strode into the forefront of the
civil rights movement. One of the young people who brought the teachings of Ghandi and King to the lunch counters of Nashville in 1960, Lewis suffered taunts and threats, beatings and arrests. He spoke at the historic 1963
March on Washington and became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The nation, tuned to the nightly news, watched in horror as state troopers clubbed him viciously, fracturing his skull as he led a march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Today, he's the only member of
Congress who can be proud of having been carried off to jail more than 40 times. With the help of a collaborator, journalist Michael D'Orso, this remarkable man has written a truly remarkable book.
Walking with the Wind is a deeply moving personal memoir that skillfully balances the intimate and touching recollections of the deeply thoughtful Lewis with the intense national drama that was the civil rights movement.
Background Information
The civil rights movement, which aimed to deliver the rights assured black Americans in the post-Civil-War amendments, reached its peak of activity in the 1960's. Alabama was part of the territory of the Old Southwest, to which American migration brought increased settlement leading to statehood in 1819. The Congress of the United States was created by the U.S. Constitution and consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
