Steadfast Stride Toward Justice

Steadfast Stride Toward Justice
Interactive map of Steadfast Stride Toward Justice
LocationLegacy Plaza, Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Coordinates32°22′53.5″N 86°18′31″W / 32.381528°N 86.30861°W / 32.381528; -86.30861
DesignerBasil Watson
TypeStatue
MaterialBronze
Dedicated dateNovember 12, 2024
Dedicated toJohn Lewis

Steadfast Stride Toward Justice is a statue of civil rights activist and politician John Lewis located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. The monument was designed by sculptor Basil Watson and was dedicated in 2024. It is located in the Legacy Plaza, near The Legacy Museum, and was erected by the Equal Justice Initiative, which operates the museum. Two additional statues, both also designed by Watson, are located in the plaza and depict fellow civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Description

The sculpture depicted John Lewis (pictured 1965) wearing a trench coat, as he appeared during the Selma to Montgomery marches.[1]

The monument consists of a life-size bronze sculpture of John Lewis.[2] His appearance is similar to how he looked during the Selma to Montgomery marches during the civil rights movement, and he is wearing a trench coat as he did during the events of "Bloody Sunday" on March 7, 1965.[1]

History

John Lewis was a civil rights activist and politician.[3] He was born in Troy, Alabama, approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Birmingham, in 1940.[3] During the civil rights movement, he was involved in several major campaigns, including the Freedom Rides and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.[3] Later, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020.[2]

The monument, called Steadfast Stride Toward Justice,[4] was designed by Basil Watson, a sculptor based in Atlanta.[2] It was installed in Legacy Plaza, across the street from The Legacy Museum, which is operated by the Equal Justice Initiative.[3] The museum and plaza are near the Alabama State Capitol in downtown Birmingham, which served as the end point for the Selma to Montgomery march.[3] Lewis had previously spoke at the opening ceremony for the museum in 2018.[3]

The statue was dedicated on November 12, 2024,[3] becoming the first life-size statue of Lewis in his home state of Alabama.[1] About 100 people attended the ceremony,[1] which included several elected officials, members of Lewis's family,[5] and the sculptor's designer, Watson.[3] The event featured a singing of "Stand Up" followed by statements from Bryan Stevenson (the founder and chief executive officer of the Equal Justice Initiative), Lewis's nephew Jerrick, and Detria Austin Everson (the chief executive officer of The John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation).[1] The event concluded with an unveiling of the statue, which had been covered in a large drape.[1] The statue joined two other statues, depicting civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, that had been dedicated in the plaza earlier in the year.[2][3] These two had also been designed by Watson.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gladden, Alex (November 14, 2024). "'To freedom': John Lewis statue unveiled at emotional Montgomery ceremony". Montgomery Advertiser. Gannett. ISSN 2993-9151. OCLC 1393208361. Archived from the original on July 28, 2026. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Binswanger, Julia (November 18, 2024). "New Statue Honoring Civil Rights Activist John Lewis Unveiled in His Home State of Alabama". Smithsonian. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISSN 0037-7333. OCLC 1359769. Archived from the original on November 18, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Urell, Aaryn (November 12, 2024). "EJI Unveils John Lewis Statue in Montgomery's Legacy Plaza". Equal Justice Initiative. Archived from the original on April 21, 2026. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  4. ↑ Majors, Baillee (November 13, 2024). "John Lewis statue unveiled at EJI's Legacy Plaza in Montgomery". Alabama Public Radio. Archived from the original on November 13, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  5. ↑ Grass, Jonathan (November 12, 2024). "Equal Justice Initiative unveils statue of Rep. John Lewis". WSFA. Archived from the original on April 21, 2026. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Statue of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis unveiled in Alabama". WIAT. Associated Press. November 14, 2024. Archived from the original on November 16, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2026.

Further reading

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.