“By respectfully insisting to be treated fairly, we would draw attention to the unfairness of segregation […] but what we found, as we pushed our protests deeper into the heart of segregated society, was that our nonviolent actions were met with increasingly more violent responses.”

Jim Crow segregation operated on the premise that Black people were not capable of equal participation because of their presumptively inferior moral character. Staging nonviolent resistance at segregated places such as lunch counters enabled activists to flip the script. Conducting themselves with a calm dignity in a simple request for a meal, movie ticket, or bus seat, protesters allowed the brutish responses that their ordinary requests and inoffensive conduct elicited to demonstrate that it was Jim Crow, and not themselves, who were lacking in moral character.

William Campbell: “Look, the violence is going to get worse and worse until someone is killed. How can it be the right thing to do to continue putting young people in harm’s way? What do you think, John?”

Lewis and his fellow activists often faced the dilemma of whether to push on with disruptive actions that could exact a frightening toll on their volunteers or to curtail such actions to clear the way for a negotiation among politicians. Lewis generally favored maximizing (peaceful) pressure, rather than compromising on what ought to be fundamental human rights, and he fought never to signal to the forces of segregation that violence could help them achieve their aims.

“I know that an education is important and I hope to get one, but human dignity is the most important thing in my life. This is the most important decision in my life—to decide to give up all if necessary for the freedom ride, that justice and freedom might come to the Deep South.”

Lewis was in school to follow his childhood dream of becoming a preacher, and he had opportunities early in life to pursue an education and career. However, once he immersed himself in the student movement, he could not abandon the cause or the people with whom he organized and marched.