GSU college students make cease in Troy on Civil Rights area journey – The Troy Messenger

The city of Troy was a scheduled stopover for a group of students and faculty members at Georgia State University on Friday. The group was on a journey to learn more about the man Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the boy from Troy”.

John Robert Lewis was an American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist and leader who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020.

The Georgia state group wanted to know more about Congressman Lewis, who grew up in the red clay fields of Pike County and later became one of the Big Six leaders of the groups that organized the 1963 March on Washington, the first of three Marches from Selma to Montgomery via Selmas Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Gertrude Tinker Sachs, professor of the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at George State University, said the group consisted of students and faculty who wanted to know more about the man who preached to chickens as a teenager and as a man who had a deep one Love for people and worked diligently for equality for all people.

“Our first stop was the Legacy Museum in Montgomery,” said Tinker Sachs. “It wasn’t a planned stop originally, but the Troy Tourist Office suggested it. We would be thankful. It was very informative. “

The tour group, Tinker Sachs said, wanted to know more about Congressman John R. Lewis, who was born in Pike County and trained at Bethel School in Banks and Pike County Training School in Brundidge.

The group’s first stop was the Troy Public Library, where they checked out the historic marker honoring Pike County’s John Lewis: National Civil Rights Icon.

“I am in awe of the man,” said one student as she looked at the marker.

“We sure all are,” said Larry Earl, curator of the Crenshaw project. “He has a deep love for people and it was evident in everything he said and did.”

The group’s second stop was Troy University to have their photos taken at the John Robert Lewis Hall. At the inauguration ceremony, Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., Chancellor of Troy University, it is right to call the heart of the university “for a great man.”

These words “a great man” were uttered many times by the group of students who came to “learn more about John Lewis”.

The final stop on the Troy tour was at Lewis’ home in rural Pike County, about five miles down Gardener Bassett Road.

Rosie Tyner, Lewis’ sister, greeted the group on the grounds of the old home and talked about her brother John and his love for humanity.

“John came from a humble background, but he aspired to achieve more,” said Tyner. “And he did more. He believed in democracy and its ideals. “

Tyner shared with the group that her brother wanted to reach out to others in search of equality for all.

Laughing, she said, yes, as a youth he preached to the chickens. Later he inspired and motivated many people to achieve and do even more.

Tyner and her brother Sam Lewis led the group through the grounds of the old home. The barn still stands as it was when John Lewis was young, and is the only building that remains of the old home and all that remains of the landscape when the Georgia Congressman was a boy.

And there is a chicken farm with a very productive brood even without a sermon.

Before leaving, the group gathered in the shadows and listened attentively as Earl advocated human equality and expressed his desire to find a way for all to live freely and equally.

“Every life is important,” he said, expressing the need that all human beings treat others as they would like to be treated, that they love one another, like the family of John Lewis for one another and for others.

Tyner expressed her wish that the old home would be abandoned as a lasting tribute to John R. Lewis and as a reminder of his desire for equality for all, not afterwards but often thought.