Dedication Scheduled for John R. Lewis Elementary
Monday, October 19th, 2020
The Bibb County School District will dedicate the new John R. Lewis Elementary School on Tuesday, October 20, at 3 p.m. The school, built with Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) funding and completed this summer, is located at 3522 Greenbriar Road. Media are invited to attend.
Originally, the school was to be named Rileydale Elementary and is a combination of the former Riley and Brookdale elementary schools. Following U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis’ death in July, the Board of Education voted to rename the school in his honor.
Lewis served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than three decades, representing Georgia's 5th District. He was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement and was one of the 13 original Freedom Riders, challenging segregation policies in the interstate bus system. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he helped organize the famous “March on Washington” in 1963 that culminated in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis also marched with other Civil Rights leaders across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
Family members of Lewis will be in attendance for the ceremony.