Late civil rights leaders ‘changed course of history,’ says archbishop cruxnow.com

The late Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, and another giant of the civil rights movement, the Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, who died the same day as Lewis, “changed the course of history for our nation” because of their civil rights work, said Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Atlanta.

Their work “stands as a testament to what nonviolent protest, fueled by love and a dedication to justice, can do,” he said in a statement released shortly after the July 17 deaths of the congressman and Vivian.

Lewis died after a six-month battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. He was 80. He represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death. Vivian died from natural causes two weeks before his 96th birthday. Both lived in Atlanta at the time of their deaths…