2020 has been a year filled with tragedy, and on Friday the world lost two iconic leaders in Rep. John Robert Lewis of Georgia and Reverend Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian. The 1960s were a time of turmoil in this nation, and these men through their incredible endurance, not only got to see the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, but in the decades that followed, continued the fight for civil rights. Even more so, they were able to see the election of the nation’s first black President in 2008.

Lewis, 80, was the son of sharecroppers who was known for marching alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He survived the “Black Sunday” attack on the Edmund Pettis Bridge during the landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama. Lewis went on to become a US Congressman, representing the state of Georgia’s 5^th district for more than three decades. Despite losing his battle with pancreatic cancer, his memory will far outlast the condition of his final days.

Even at a young age, Lewis knew that he had a responsibility to do something about the racist system that engulfed the country during the 1960’s.

“Sometimes when I look back and think about it, how did we do what we did? How did we succeed? We didn’t have a website. We didn’t have a cellular telephone,” said Lewis when talking about the civil rights movement. “But I felt when we were sitting in at those lunch counter stools, or going on the Freedom Ride, or marching from Selma to Montgomery, there was a power and a force. God Almighty was there with us.”

Lewis organized sit-ins and created the term “good trouble,” even getting the opportunity to speak at the historic “March on Washington” in 1963 alongside King. After being voted to the Atlanta city council in 1981, he continued his journey to fighting civil rights and against poverty. He even co-wrote a series of graphic novels about the civil rights movement.

In spite of the hate and vile actions that were thrown his way, Lewis always demonstrated forgiveness towards those who hurt him.

“It is the power in the way of peace, the way of love,” Lewis said. “We must never, ever hate. The way of love is a better way.”

Reverend Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, passed away at the age of 95 on Friday. Vivian began his quest for civil rights back in the 1940s, organizing sit-ins in Peoria, Illinois. He met Dr. King not long after the 1955 bus boycotts in Montgomery after the Rosa Parks arrest.

Vivian went on to organize the Freedom Riders in order to integrate buses across the South and encourage non-violent protests. It was his bold challenge of a segregationist sheriff in Selma during a voting rights registration that led to the march on the Pettis Bridge. Vivian endured a brutal beating at the hands of Sheriff Clark during the registration that was caught on camera, inspiring thousands across the nation to act on an injustice that had been all too common to those in the South during that time.

He continued to serve on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC after King’s assassination in 1968. In addition, he served at Raleigh’s Shaw University as its dean of divinity and dedicated his life to non-violence until his final days.

Both of these men leave a legacy that future generations can aspire to be like, and lead the charge for civil rights, not only with protests, but by exercising the right to vote and hold office. John Lewis always said a quote that should inspire those who seek the true meaning of freedom:

“When you lose your sense of fear, you’re free.”