Ted Johnson John Lewis, the civil rights icon and longtime Georgia congressman, died on Friday. He was 80.Lewis served in Congress since 1987, but in many ways was the conscience of the Democratic Party, often drawing on his experiences being beaten, harassed and arrested as a key figure in the civil rights movement.He was one of the original Freedom Riders, who trekked across the South in a bus ride to desegregate public transportation and accommodation and, along with a dozen others, were met by angry mobs.
He was assaulted a number of times, including a beating in a Greyhound bus station in Montgomery where he was hit in the head and knocked unconscious.
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