A street in Nashville has been named after the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.
Metro Council members voted on Thursday to rename a portion of 5th Avenue North to Rep. John Lewis Way, councilwoman Zulfat Suara confirmed on Twitter.
Suara first introduced legislation to have the street renamed after the longtime congressman from Georgia in the fall.
“t’s official,” Suara tweeted. “5th Avenue from Jefferson st. In the north to the Nashville city cemetery on the south side is now Rep. John Lewis Way. Grateful to the minority caucus, my colleagues & everyone that help made it happen. Kudos to my committee members.”
Lewis organized sit-ins in Nashville as a college student from 1959 to 1960, and he was a keynote speaker during the March on Washington in 1963. Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in in 2011.
Lewis died on July 17 at the age of 80 of pancreatic cancer.
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