Lewis was the last surviving member of the “Big Six” of activists who organized the 1963 March on Washington
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John Lewis, the civil rights icon who played a key role in some of the most important activism of the era and went on to serve 16 terms as a congressman representing Georgia, died Friday following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80.
Lewis was the last surviving member of the “Big Six,” the group of prominent civil rights leaders who helped organized the 1963 March on Washington. The others were Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young. Lewis was a co-founder and served as the third chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
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As news of his death became public, tributes poured in from peers and admirers.
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