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Listen to the PodcastThis forum is part of the City Club's 2025 Annual Meeting and will begin at an earlier time so that we may present a brief overview of our year from the City Club team. Please come early to be seated for this brief program beginning at 11:00am and to be followed immediately by our Friday Forum.
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“John Lewis was my friend, steadfast ally, and personal hero. I loved him and miss him very much. Every page of David Greenberg’s biography brings him back to life with rich details that reveal not only his legendary moral compass, but the pressures and practical realities he maneuvered in both protest and politics.” —President Bill Clinton
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In the 1960s, John Lewis led the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, committed to the belief, as the New York Times put it, "that allowing himself to be beaten nearly to death in public would hasten the collapse of Southern apartheid." Which is more or less what happened, most notably at Bloody Sunday.
John Lewis would go on to lose leadership of SNCC and decades later win election to Congress, representing Georgia from 1987 until his death in 2020.
In a moment in which our nation seems defined by both national politics and the activism those politics provoke, Congressman Lewis' life offers a model of resistance, optimism, and leadership, one that ultimately changed our nation for the better.
As part of the City Club's 2025 Annual Meeting, join us as Thompson Hine's Robyn Minter Smyers leads a conversation with biographer David Greenberg on John Lewis's remarkable life and the lessons it holds for all of us.
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Online ticket sales for this forum will conclude on Wednesday, October 29th. For more information regarding ticketing/registration, contact Stacy Roper at (216) 621-0082.
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The livestream will be available beginning at 11:00am to include our Annual Meeting presentation immediately before the forum. Have questions for the Q&A? Text them to 330.541.5794.
Production and distribution of City Club forums in partnership with Ideastream Public Media is generously provided by PNC and the United Black Fund.
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