The casket of civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis is carried down the steps of the U.S. Capitol after lying in state in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Pool Photo by Erin Scott/UPI |
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July 27 (UPI) -- Colleagues and friends paid tribute to civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis on Monday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., as his body lay in state in the Rotunda.
"John was revered and loved on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "We knew that he always worked on the side of the angels. And now we know that he is with them ... John had a deep faith, believing that every person has a spark of divinity, making them worthy of respect."
At an invitation-only ceremony complying with COVID-19 health safeguards, members of the Congressional Black Caucus wore matching face masks adorned with the phrase Lewis used to describe civil rights actions, "Good Trouble."
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Lewis endured personal suffering but did his part to influence the future.
"Even though the world around him gave him every cause for bitterness," McConnell said, Lewis was remembered for treating others "with respect and love."
Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, visited the Capitol on Monday, as he placed a hand on the flag-draped coffin while they both placed their hands over their hearts in a sign of respect.
President Donald Trump told reporters as he left for a trip to North Carolina that he would not be visiting the Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol remains closed to public tours and Lewis' family have urged mourners not to travel to Washington, D.C., for the event.
The general public will be able to attend a viewing on the front steps of the Capitol later Monday and all day Tuesday, with COVID-19 precautions in place.
Military honor guard pallbearers placed Lewis's flag-draped coffin on the catafalque built in 1865 to display the casket of President Abraham Lincoln.
During Monday's motorcade to the Capitol, a procession led Lewis through Washington and past notable landmarks, including Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street NW. Lewis was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s that helped galvanize support for the civil rights movement.
Lewis is the second Black congressman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died last October, was the first.
On Wednesday, Lewis' body will lie in state in the Georgia State Capitol, followed Thursday by a celebration at the Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary in Atlanta and burial at the city's South-View Cemetery.
On Sunday, Lewis' casket crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in a memorial procession. The bridge was the site where Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten by Alabama state troopers in 1965 in what became known as "Bloody Sunday."
An Alabama native who represented Atlanta's district in the House for more than 30 years, Lewis lay in state in the Alabama State Capitol on Sunday.
Lewis died July 17 at age 80 after a battle with cancer.
