Living Monuments: John Lewis and C.T. Vivian

When John Lewis spoke to a group of New York City public high school students at a “Civics For All” event last December, he encouraged them to find ways to get into what he liked to call “Good Trouble, necessary trouble”—challenging inequality and pursuing pathways to service. 

It was a rousing address of the type Lewis had delivered many times over the course of his life. He ended his talk by telling the students: “You have to hang in there. Be persistent and we are going to win. We are going to have a victory. It is all in your hands, in our hands.” 

A few weeks later, the nation learned that Lewis was suffering from stage four pancreatic cancer, a veritable death sentence. In that moment, we felt fortunate to have had yet another opportunity to be in his presence and to learn from him. 

His passing last Friday at age eighty, along with the death of his civil rights comrade, the Reverend C.T. Vivian, is an important reminder to cherish the living monuments in our midst. Their very lives are a testament to what can be accomplished when we remain committed to achieving justice and equality.

Since the early days of the civil rights movement, this process has always been predicated on people willing—through their selflessness—to work for the betterment of our democracy.

While both men encouraged youth activism, Lewis in particular used his own journey to model what it means to live a life of service, often recounting with passion his own entry into the movement at the age of fifteen, inspired by Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks as well as his desire to help eradicate segregation.

In a real sense, many of us have been witnesses, and all of us beneficiaries, of what followed: Sixty-five years of committed service to pursuing full equality for all Americans.

His message to young people was very clear: Starting activism early is essential because it provides one the opportunity to live and lead a longer life of service. It remains a powerful message for everyone, however, because it also emphasizes the idea that it is never too late to start. The real key is to remain committed.

In his celebrated speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August, 1963, Lewis appealed to those in attendance not only to “get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation,” but to “get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete.” 

Lewis reiterated this powerful call to service in a tweet in June 2018 admonishing his followers not to “get lost in a sea of despair.” “Our struggle,” he continued, “is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.” 

Lewis’s passing on the same day as Vivian, who was ninety-five, reinforces that idea. While lesser known, Vivian also lived a fruitful life of service. In death, as the movement to dismantle statues continues to swell, they offer us the opportunity to celebrate the living monuments among us. Individuals like Rachel Robinson and Diane Nash, Andrew Young, and Bob Moses, whose lives and legacies of good and necessary trouble continue to leave ripples of hope. 

A reflection on their seemingly ordinary lives of service can help provide us—both burgeoning young activists and more seasoned veterans, as well as those yet to get involved—with examples of the multiple modes of effective activism in these troubled times. 

A common feature of these individuals is that they never lost faith in the system that they fought to improve profoundly. Their shared goal, echoed in the slogan of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was to “redeem the soul of America.” Since the early days of the civil rights movement, this process has always been predicated on people willing—through their selflessness—to work for the betterment of our democracy.

If there is a way that we can commemorate and carry on the legacies of Congressman John Lewis and the Reverend C.T. Vivian, it would center on always exercising the right to vote while also finding ways to live humbly for justice each day.