Following John Lewis on civil rights journey 'touched by the spirit of history'

It's how congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, told 16-year-old Charlotte Potes she should describe her pull toward activism to her skeptical parents.

It was also how every one of us on last weekend's remarkable civil rights pilgrimage felt: touched by the spirit of history.

The Faith and Politics Institute organizes a bipartisan delegation to take this trip every year around the March 7 anniversary of a 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, by protesters calling for African-Americans to have the right to register to vote.

George Wallace’s daughter: From segregation to ‘making things right’

If an enduring face of the pain and promise of the Civil Rights movement is Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), then Peggy Wallace Kennedy has become a symbol of racial reconciliation.

Walking the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis

“Write down what’s in your head. Write what’s in your heart,” Peggy Wallace Kennedy told me she told her children when they first walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge years ago. What fine advice to follow after having walked the span with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) over the weekend.

Rep. John Lewis leads congressional delegation through Alabama civil rights landmarks

Sixteen members of Congress were in Birmingham Friday to begin a pilgrimage through the state’s civil rights landmarks.

From a stage in Birmingham’s civil rights district, the bipartisan group led by Rep. John Lewis reminisced on what unfolded there years ago.

Congressional delegation tours Birmingham during Civil Rights Pilgrimage

A bipartisan delegation of Congressional members – blacks and whites; Democrats and Republicans; men and women — on Friday  toured the downtown Birmingham Civil Rights District as part of a pilgrimage to 12 sites including landmarks in Montgomery and Selma.

Faith & Politics Institute to meet in Birmingham this week

The Faith & Politics Institute will convene in Birmingham this weekend to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Pilgrimage, and recognize the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A contingency of bipartisan U.S. Congressional leaders, including Alabama’s U.S. senators and representatives will attend this year’s festivities.

PRESS RELEASE| “SET THE TABLE FOR CIVILITY”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 21, 2017

Contact: Alex Bloom | abloom@skdknick.com | 646-930-1940

Senator King, House Majority Whip Scalise, House Democratic Whip Hoyer, Among Bipartisan Group of 17 Members of Congress to Call on Constituents to “Set the Table for Civility”

WASHINGTON – Working with the Faith & Politics Institute (FPI) and the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD), a bipartisan group of 17 Members of Congress including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) is encouraging Americans to revive civility this holiday season, part of a joint initiative called “Setting the Table for Civility.”

Whip Scalise and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) (pictured below) partnered to tape a video message together – one of three bipartisan pairings of members sitting together to discuss ways that Americans can repair relationships and build civility during the holiday season. Senator Angus King (I-ME), 14 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chief Executive Officer Wylecia Wiggs Harris of the League of Women Voters of the United States, and Reverend Timothy Boddie, General Secretary at Progressive National Baptist Convention, also contributed videos for the initiative.

Steve Scalise, Steny Hoyer and 15 other lawmakers want to help you have a civil Thanksgiving dinner

So it has come to this: Our national mood has deteriorated to the point that it has become so partisan, so toxic and so contentious that dozens of civic groups have joined to promote a guide to keeping your Thanksgiving dinner conversation from degenerating into a shout-a-rama worthy of a cable news set.

The Washington Post: Stop wondering who’s going to save us...

This time, the pilgrimage was to western New York state and the landmarks of the abolition and women’s suffrage movements that were nurtured and led there. And it was at a lunch after a tour of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls on July 21 that Nathan Richardson recited his 2008 poem “We,” inspired by June Jordan’s “Poem for South African Women.”

MEDIA ADVISORY | Leading Through Division: How President Abraham Lincoln’s Wisdom

June 15, 2017

Leading Through Division: How President Abraham Lincoln’s Wisdom  

Offers Lessons to Address America’s 21st Century Divides

 The Faith & Politics Institute Hosts June 21st Forum in Washington, D.C. with Bestselling Lincoln Historian & Author Ronald C. White & U.S. Representatives Will Hurd, Joaquin Castro & David Price

WASHINGTON – Can the wisdom of President Abraham Lincoln inspire modern leaders to address America’s divided politics?  The Faith & Politics Institute (FPI) will host a forum with noted Lincoln historian and bestselling author Ronald C. White, and U.S Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), and David Price (D-NC) in Washington, D.C. on June 21st to address that important question.

White is the author of three national bestselling books on the 16th President:  A. Lincoln: A Biography, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, and The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. 

Who:   FPI President and CEO Joan Mooney, Lincoln historian and bestselling author Ronald C. White, and U.S Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX), Joaquin Castro  (D-TX) and David Price (D-NC)

What: Leading Through Division: How President Abraham Lincoln’s Wisdom Offers Lesson to Address America’s 21st Century Divides. Introduction by Congressman Price followed by a bipartisan panel discussion featuring Congressmen Hurd, Castro, and Price 

When: Wednesday, June 21, 2017 6:30 P.M. Reception, 7:00 P.M. Presentation

Where: Reserve Officers Association, Banquet Ballroom 1 CONSTITUTION AVENUE, N.E. Washington, D.C.

Media seeking to cover the event should RSVP to josh@edsassociates.com. Members of the public who wish to attend should RSVP to this link. For questions, please call 202-546-1299.

The Faith & Politics Institute is celebrating 25 years of bringing leaders together for the good of our nation through congressional pilgrimages, forums and dialogues that inspire leaders in public service across lines of ideology, race, and faith. Visit the Faith & Politics Institute atwww.faithandpolitics.org. and follow on Facebook and Twitter.