John Lewis statue making stops in South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A statue honoring the late Congressman John Lewis made a stop in South Carolina Thursday.

The monument to the Civil Rights icon is part of a traveling exhibit on its way to Washington, D.C. The statue was unveiled at the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston and is next slated to be displayed at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg for about a week before moving to its next stop.

Lewis died in July of 2020 during his 17th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His statue will stop in each state as it makes its way to its permanent home in National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Lewis challenged Jim Crow segregation and oppression across the South through nonviolent protest. In 1965, Alabama state troopers in the town of Selma attacked Lewis and other demonstrators with clubs and tear gas during a march for voting rights.

Lewis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986, where he served until his death at age 80.

The statue will remain on display at South Carolina State University through Feb. 11.

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