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As a Freedom Rider in 1961, Congressman John Lewis was brutally beaten by a white mob in Montgomery, Alabama. In August 1963, he spoke alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. on the day Dr. King delivered his immortal "I Have a Dream" speech. On March 7, 1965--"Bloody Sunday"--Alabama state troopers' savage suppression of the peaceful march Lewis led across the Edmund Pettus Bridge helped inspire passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Now, almost 45 years later, Congressman Lewis will witness the inauguration of Barack Obama just one day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

Congressman Lewis recently shared with us some reflections on the significance of this historic occasion.

[Listen to the full interview (4 min., 15 seconds)]

Interview Transcript
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Thank you so much for joining us, Representative Lewis.

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: I am delighted and pleased to be with you.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: We're fast approaching Martin Luther King Day, and one day later the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. What are the major lessons of these days for young people in our schools?

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: Young people in our schools should understand that Martin Luther King, Jr. received a very good education, and he used his education to bring about nonviolent changes all across America. If it hadn't been for the leadership--the teaching--of Dr. King, there would be no Barack Obama being inaugurated as President of the United States.

Dr. King had the power, he had the ability, to change America forever. During the life and times of Dr. King, America was a different America. We saw those signs that said "White Men," "Colored Men," "White Women," "Colored Women," "White Waiting," "Colored Waiting." People of color could not register to vote in many parts of our country, especially in the American South.

But Dr. King's leadership brought down those signs and his leadership created a climate to get the Congress to sign a Voting Rights Act, to pass a Voting Rights Act, and the President of the United States to sign that act. That's why today hundreds of millions of people of color registered and voted, and made it possible for Barack Obama to be elected president.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: What do you think schools should do to take advantage of this historic occasion?

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: Schools at all levels should let this be a day of reflection, a day of learning, and a day of service. Dr. King said we all can be great because we all can serve. We can go out and help our needy friends and relatives. We can go out and clean up our streets, help the seniors in our neighborhoods, and do what we can to make our planet--this little piece of real estate that we call earth--a little cleaner, a little more peaceful. Not just for this generation, but for generations yet unborn.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: What do you think we have to do in the future to honor and build upon the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement?

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: I think it's important in the years to come that we teach the way of love, the way of peace, the way of nonviolence, to all of our young people.

For many of us during those early years, nonviolence became a way of life, became a way of living. We must say that Dr. King taught another generation that hate was too heavy a burden to bear. He taught us that we're all one people, that we're one family--the American family, the world family. He would have said that it doesn't matter whether we are black or white or Latino or Asian-American or Native American. We're one people, we're one family.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Thank you very much for your time, Representative Lewis.

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: Thank you very much.

For more information about Congressman Lewis's leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, see the award-winning documentary Come Walk in My Shoes. Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker Robin Smith is working with educators to create lesson plans and classroom activities linked to the film.