John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was a prominent figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, participating in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides. He served as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups that organized the 1963 March on Washington.

John Lewis played key roles in the civil rights movement and efforts to end legalized racial segregation in the United States. In 1965, he led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where state troopers and police attacked Lewis and other marchers in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday.

A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and served 17 terms. The district he represented included most of Atlanta. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. He was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the House, serving from 1991 as a chief deputy whip and from 2003 as a senior chief deputy whip. Throughout his life, he received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.