John Lewis, Civil Rights activist and Congressman, who marched alongside Martin Luther King in the 1960s, has died. He was a towering figure in the fight for equality starting in his early 20s leading the student non-violent movement which brought beatings and dozens of arrests. He once said: “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.” He was the last surviving speaker of the march in which Martin Luther King delivered his “Dream” speech.
Nancy Pelosi described him as ‘one of the greatest heroes of American history: the Conscience of the Congress.“
He was born in Troy, Alabama, February 21, 1940, one of 10 children of sharecropper parents and originally intended to be a preacher.
He had a Pisces Sun inconjunct Pluto and sextile Saturn in late Aries conjunct Mars in Taurus with his Saturn Mars square Pluto, suggestive of a life in which hardship, frustration and brutality featured largely. He had the inspired Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune in Virgo of his generation and a charming Venus Jupiter in Aries.
In the 1960s, the transiting Uranus Pluto in Virgo were stirring up his Pisces Sun; with Saturn in Aquarius square Neptune in place over the “I Had a Dream” speech, rattling his Uranus and with it a hope for liberation.
His ‘obsessive dream’ 11th Harmonic was well aspected which gives endurance – though it is more than discouraging to see the battle against racism still being fought six decades later.
Also prominent was his leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17H. His super-star 22nd Harmonic was strong and enlivening. A man who made a difference.
He started activism so young, it must have been hard. Young people want approval not disdain for asking for their human rights.
The black people’s plight lives on and on and on …..!
Go figure that so many demographics and causes who have come after and long after us have been and are being seen to be winning and successful. Yet all we have to show for anything is that we must convince a whole race of people and the rest of the world that our lives matter and teach our children and grandchildren not to live in fear. Just like 400-500 years ago. Nostalgia??? Or SMH Mind blowing!!!!
I could say more but I won’t.
Forgot to say thank you for that piece, Marjorie.
Just so sorry that he is gone before truly seeing the results of his life’s work. And sorry that these issues were most likely at the forefront of his thoughts in the past few months. A magnificent human being who ALWAYS stayed true to his convictions and values…I hope he’s gone only so he can reincarnate. The world needs more like him!
I do not find it discouraging that the achievements brought by the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the Sixties have been tested by the Uranus-Pluto square which have brought an ugly reaction. This was to be expected and is only in the nature of things. I am encouraged by the fact that racial equality has only been strenghetened by this test. The rise of Black Lives Matter and in particular the support of great numbers of white people, which didn’t happen in the Sixties, mean that John Lewis will be forever admired and Donald Trump forever held in contempt. Testing time will soon be over. We shall move on in progress.
Also, one think that has made me particularly emotional today is John Lewis’ National Book Award speech from a couple of years back. He stated he was denied a library card in 1955, because he was “a negro”. I remember apartheid from the 1980’s, it had a huge emotional impact on me, as a child. But I remember how horrified World was of this by then. That same kind of stuff went on in many parts of The US just 20-30 years earlier with the World largely watching by hits me every time.
An extraordinary man, with a chart that’s an extraordinary example on how to make difficult aspects work, although he had many plessings there, too (as a Finn, I can’t but notice he was born during Winter War, otherwise relatively quiet period during WWII, not at worst fighting days in Karelia, but still in a period my grandparents would remember as the scariest of their lives). I see Aries Jupiter/Venus giving physical courage. Uranus sextile Mercury to boost each, when they both were in less favorable signs.
And that Mars in Taurus, giving ability to work on a goal long term. I remember saying British people would need politicians with Mars in Taurus to work on Brexit deals. John Lewis maybe the most notable example of a politician with this position. His speech at March to Washington was apparently edited for fear of it being too incendiary. Yet he spoke on voter supression with concrete terms. And he never gave up. There are bills introduced by him at House Floor and passed there
Senate Republicans are currently sitting on.
A very brave man. John has made his mark on history.
He will remembered long after the likes of Donald Trump have vanished into well deserved
obscurity.