Late Civil Rights Leader and Georgia Congressman John Robert Lewis Honored with Statue in Decatur, Georgia

Bronze Statue of Congressman John R. Lewis Stands Where Confederate Monument Once Stood

DeKalb County and Decatur, Georgia honored the late Civil Rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Robert Lewis with the unveiling of a new historic memorial in Decatur Square on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

The larger-than-life 12-foot John Robert Lewis memorial statue, by bronze sculptor Basil Watson, was placed where a Confederate monument once stood in Decatur Square. The bronze monument is placed in front of the Historic DeKalb County Courthouse, at the very spot where a contentious monument to the confederacy stood for more than 110 years before it was dismantled on Juneteenth, June 18, 2020.

In January 2021, city officials announced plans to erect a statue of civil rights hero and former U.S. Congressman John Lewis where the monument stood.

The former Confederate monument was a Confederate stone obelisk memorial, standing 30 feet tall, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy near the old county courthouse in 1908. Speaking of the Confederate memorial that was removed and properly stored, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond states, “The Decatur Square is free of a monument that represented intolerance, bigotry and enslavement.”

Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett told the crowd that it was fitting to have a symbol of hate and division replaced with an icon of the Civil Rights Movement. On the program were politicians including U. S. Senator Rafael Warnock, and former Dekalb County CEO, Burrell Ellis. Xenona Clayton spoke, and Ambassador Andrew Young gave remarks. In this writer’s opinion, sculptor Basil Watson captured the true essence of Congressman John Lewis, standing with his hands over his heart.

Dr. Rashad Richey served as the master of ceremonies for the unveiling event. Vocalist/songstress Jennifer Holliday led the crowd in the U. S. National Anthem and the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Invocation and prayers were led by Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller (Temple Emanu-El, Sandy Springs, Georgia) and Reverend Dr. Jamal H. Bryant (New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Stonecrest, Georgia). Simone Moales (Atlanta’s Spelman College’s Student Government Association President and Political Science major) read a statement that had been sent by the Honorable U. S. Vice President and U. S. Presidential Democratic Nominee Kamala D. Harris. Prior to the unveiling of the statue, remarks were delivered from the Honorable Georgia U. S. Senator Raphael Warnock (pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church), Congressman Sten Hoyer (Maryland’s 5^th Congressional District), Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams (Georgia’s 5^th Congressional District), DeKalb County CEO Michael L. Thurmond and DeKalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson (District 5). As songstress Jennifer Holliday sang “Everything Must Change,” Civil Rights leaders and elected officials unveiled the John R. Lewis statue. Other special remarks were delivered by Lewis’s former chief of staff Michael Collins, and friends Xernona Clayton and Ambassador Andrew Young. After Jennifer Holliday sang “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” former DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis and current Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett made closing remarks. Benediction was led by Imam Plemon T. El-amin (Imam Emeritus of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam) and Reverend Jasper W. Williams, Jr. (pastor of Atlanta’s Salem Bible Church).