Good trouble
Necessary trouble
… to do what is right
When his head was bashed in on March 7, 1965, America might have lost a civil rights activist. Instead, John Lewis, (Feb. 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020), recovered from his fractured skull and lived on to be a US representative and American hero.
Lewis originally planned on becoming a minister. He delighted his constituents by telling them how, at 5-years-old, he used to practice sermons in front of his chickens. Despite earning the requisite divinity degree, he walked the talk of Christianity instead.
At age 47, John Lewis became the US representative from Georgia.
He was arrested 40 times before he was elected and 4 times afterwards. He had the courage of his convictions. He made a difference.
Dawn Porter, the director of this documentary, and Julie Zann, the writer, have created a cinematic quilt of beauty on the life on Lewis. They didn’t go chronologically, but sewed together blocks that create a design, as if it were a real quilt, that spells hope.
Porter originally served as a corporate attorney. Five years later, she was hired as director of standards and practices at ABC News. She eventually became inspired by documentary filmmaking, first serving as an executive producer and then creating her films.
“John Lewis – Good Trouble,” originally released in 2020, is now available for community showings, most especially on commemorative dates like July 17th – Lewis’s birthday, Labor Day, and MLK Day.
At the time of his death, Lewis was the last surviving speaker at the 1963 March on Washington. His courage in participating in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, which advocated an end to racial segregation at lunch counters, and Freedom Rides, which protested segregated public buses, made him a beloved civil rights public figure.
Porter shows the most notable moment in Lewis’ life in 1965, on Bloody Sunday. She incorporates footage of the moment when Lewis suffered a fractured skull at the hands of police at the peaceful Selma to Montgomery march over the Pettus Bridge.
His leadership and the violence Lewis endured made him a national hero. Along with MLK, he was instrumental in gaining national support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
At this year’s 2025 Labor Day March across America, signs invoking John Lewis’s credo “Good Trouble Lives On” were seen across the country.
Credits
Director: Dawn Porter
Writer: Julie Zann
Featuring: John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, Anthony Johnson, Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, Cory Booker, Michael Collins, Stacey Abrams,
Released: July 3, 2020
Website and how to view: https://www.magpictures.com/johnlewisgoodtrouble/ and https://rocofilms.com/films/john-lewis-good-trouble/
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