He was born the son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940, outside of Troy, Alabama. He grew up on his family’s farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he heard on radio broadcasts. In those pivotal moments, he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement. Ever since then, he has remained at the vanguard of progressive social movements and the human rights struggle in the United States.
As a student at Fisk University, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those Rides many times by simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons. He was also beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.
He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since then. That District includes the entire city of Atlanta, Georgia and parts of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. He is Senior Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Party in leadership in the House, a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, a member of its Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight.
President Barack Obama hailed the House of Representatives vote for his sweeping healthcare plan as a victory for the American people that answered the call of history.
Born August 18th 1943. Grammy Award-winning American gospel and R&B musician, pianist, choir leader, composer and arranger. He is one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel sound. He (and the Edwin Hawkins Singers) are best known for his arrangement of “Oh Happy Day” (1968-69), which was included on the Songs of the Century list. The Edwin Hawkins Singers are somewhat less well-known for backing Melanie one year later on the song, “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)”.
At the age of seven Hawkins was already the keyboardist to accompany the family’s gospel choir. Together with Betty Watson he was the co-founder of the Northern California State Youth Choir, which included almost 50 members. This ensemble recorded its first album Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord at the Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California, hoping to sell 500 copies. “Oh Happy Day” was just one of the eight songs on the album.
When radio stations of the San Francisco Bay area started playing “Oh Happy Day”, it became very popular. Featuring the lead vocal of Dorothy Combs Morrison, the subsequently released single rocketed to sales of over a million copies within two months. It crossed over to the pop charts making U.S. #4 and UK #2 in 1969.
It then became an international success, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first Grammy for it. Hawkins’ arrangement of the song was eventually covered by The Four Seasons on their 1970 album Half & Half.
Altogether Hawkins has won four Grammy Awards:
* 1970: Best Soul Gospel Performance — “Oh Happy Day”, performed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers;
* 1971: Best Soul Gospel Performance — “Every Man Wants to Be Free”, performed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers;
* 1978: Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary — “Wonderful!”;
* 1993: Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album — choir director on Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir – Recorded Live in Los Angeles, performed by the Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir.
President Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. compared the president to a son who was being treated unfairly and said it had been hard weathering the media storm after Obama became a serious contender for the White House and controversy erupted over Wright’s fiery sermons.
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Lewis risked his life on those Rides many times by simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons. He was also beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South. 
