Rufus Lewis (activist)

Rufus Lewis
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
from the 77th district
In office
November 8, 1976 – October 7, 1977
Succeeded by Charles Langford
Personal details
Born (1906-11-30)November 30, 1906
Montgomery, Alabama
Died August 19, 1999(1999-08-19) (aged 92)
Montgomery, Alabama
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Fisk University
Profession Businessman

Rufus Lewis (November 30, 1906 – August 19, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and politician.

Life and career

Lewis was born in Montgomery, Alabama. He graduated from Fisk University in 1931 with a degree in business administration. He then moved to Alabama State College in Montgomery and worked as a football coach there until the outbreak of World War II. After the war ended, Lewis established classes for black Montgomery residents who wanted to pass the literacy tests they were required to complete to vote.[1] He was a member of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and a founding member of the Montgomery Improvement Association which organized the Montgomery bus boycott. He served on the organization's executive committee and was chairman of the transportation committee and the voter registration committee. At the organization's first meeting, Lewis nominated Martin Luther King Jr. as president.[2]

In 1960, Lewis helped to found the Alabama Democratic Conference. He later attended the official signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at the White House. In 1976, he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. The following year, Jimmy Carter appointed him a US Marshal.[3]

Honors and awards

In 1994, one of Montgomery's libraries was renamed Rufus A. Lewis Regional Library in his honor. The street that he and his wife lived on for many years was also changed from Bolivar Lane to Rufus A. Lewis Lane.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, Troy (2008). Becoming King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of a National Leader. University Press of Kentucky. p. 30. ISBN 0813125200.
  2. ↑ Williams, Donnie (2007). The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow. Chicago Review Press. p. 184. ISBN 1556526768.
  3. ↑ Levy, Peter (2015). The Civil Rights Movement in America: From Black Nationalism to the Women's Political Council. AFL CIO. pp. 182–4.
  4. ↑ Gaillard, Frye (2010). Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817355812.
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