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John Lewis, Lying in State, Is Honored as Part of a ‘Pantheon of Patriots’
A cross-section of influential lawmakers paid respects to the civil rights icon before his body was to be moved outside so the public could honor him.
WASHINGTON — When the honor guard placed Representative John Lewis’s coffin in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday, the civil rights icon’s body lay upon the same catafalque that President Abraham Lincoln’s did.
It was a fitting tribune: The raised box that once supported the president most responsible for ending slavery now carried the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda, a man who dedicated his life to ensuring that with freedom came equality.
“Under the dome of the U.S. Capitol, we have bid farewell to some of the greatest Americans in our history,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during an emotional ceremony Monday afternoon to honor Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endured numerous arrests and beatings in his lifelong push for civil rights. “It is fitting that John Lewis joins this pantheon of patriots.”
Speakers recalled Mr. Lewis’s remarkable rise in American life, from a farmhouse in Pike County, Ala., with no running water or electricity to his leading role in the effort to end segregation and his ascent to the halls of Congress.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, invoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a friend of Mr. Lewis’s, who once said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“But that is never automatic,” Mr. McConnell said. “History only bent toward what’s right because people like John paid the price to help bend it.”
Typically, when a lawmaker with the stature of Mr. Lewis is honored in the Capitol, the building hosts thousands of visitors. But the coronavirus pandemic limited the crowd inside the Rotunda to just dozens.
The crowd included a cross-section of influential lawmakers from both parties and other notable guests. Among them were several potential Democratic vice-presidential picks: Senator Kamala Harris of California, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Representative Karen Bass of California and Representative Val Demings of Florida. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington, who was with Mr. Lewis at his final public appearance last month, sat with the Congressional Black Caucus.
Members of the caucus wore masks that read “Good Trouble” — a nod to one of Mr. Lewis’s favorite phrases encouraging people to stand up against injustice.
One notable absence was President Trump, who told reporters he had no plans to attend the ceremony for Mr. Lewis, whom he had criticized in recent years.
“I won’t be going, no,” Mr. Trump told reporters.
Among those expected to pay respects to Mr. Lewis after the ceremony were Vice President Mike Pence and Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, according to their public schedules. Mr. Lewis’s body was set to be moved outside Monday evening, so the public could pay tribute.
Before the ceremony, a solemn crowd gathered outside the building to watch the motorcade carrying Mr. Lewis arrive.
“Come on — you don’t want to miss it,” June Jeffries, 66, said as her son, Rudolph, hoisted her barefoot granddaughter, Clara, onto his shoulders to see the motorcade turn into the Capitol complex.
“My wife and I are explaining to her, particularly for her, what it means to be Black,” said Mr. Jeffries, who lives in Silver Spring, Md. “This is the type of event we wouldn’t miss.”
Both Ms. Jeffries and her son remembered the cold day they spent outside the Supreme Court to pay homage to Thurgood Marshall, its first African-American justice, after his death. On Monday, even in sweltering heat, the pair felt it important for Clara, 4, to do the same.
“I want my daughter to understand she’s part of this community and that she has a responsibility as a member of this community to participate in these kinds of events,” he added. “Appreciate the people who made it possible for us to live as freely as we do.”
Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.
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