President signs bill allowing Southwest Atlanta postal facility to be renamed after John Lewis

ATLANTA — A post office facility in Southwest Atlanta will be renamed after the late civil rights icon and congressman, John Lewis.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Tuesday that will rename the building at 3900 Crown Road the John R. Lewis Post Office Building.

Lewis was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists who organized the 1963 March on Washington, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis was best known for leading protesters in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was knocked to the ground and beaten by state troopers.

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Lewis died in 2020 at age 80 after announcing he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, centered in Atlanta, from 1987 until his death.

The bill to rename the facility was sponsored by Democratic U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta and Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of Pooler.

To rename a post office, the entire Congressional delegation and both U.S. senators representing the state must introduce a bill in both chambers.

RELATED NEWS:

A metro post office could soon be renamed after civil rights icon John Lewis The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent after it passed the House on Feb. 1.

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