Growing up in Alabama in the 1940s, John Lewis, the son of poor sharecroppers, lived in a segregated world. Angered by the discrimination he faced as an African American, Lewis envisioned a life in which people of all races were treated as equals. His activist path began at a young age when he petitioned the local library, open only to white patrons, for a library card. As Lewis grew, his protests gained momentum. He spearheaded sit-ins, volunteered for the first Freedom Rides in 1961, helped organize voter registration drives during Freedom Summer in Mississippi, and at twenty-three, gave a fiery keynote speech at the historic March on Washington. Lewis risked his life on several occasions, enduring several attacks and forty arrests. In later years, he won election to Congress, where he has served as a representative from Georgia for more than twenty-three years. Lewis still strives for a world free of injustice, and creating this "beloved community" remains his lifelong goal.

Book jacket.