Two former Freedom Riders were awarded honorary degrees at Lawrence University in Appleton over the weekend.
U.S. Rep. James Lewis, D-Ga., and James Zwerg were seatmates for part of the 1961 Freedom Ride from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans. It was in support of desegregated public transportation.
Zwerg told reporters how Lewis organized and led the ride.
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“He was the rock of the national movement and there was nobody I’d rather stand on a bus platform and take a beating with,” he said.
That’s what happened at a bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, where Zwerg — who is white –was beaten unconscious.
Lewis said he’d take his message of non-violent resistance to the students at Lawrence.
“I will say to the graduates, ‘If you see something that is not right, that is not fair, and that is not just you have a moral obligation to speak up, speak out, and find a way to become involved,’” Lewis said.
Lewis added that sometimes there’s “good trouble, and necessary trouble.”
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