One of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement — a group that includes Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks — will visit the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics on Sunday. Civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis will receive this year’s Dole Leadership Prize, in the Institute’s largest event, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center.

Lewis grew up in rural Alabama where he experienced racial discrimination daily. Lewis said he remembered seeing the white men and women signs and colored men and women signs. He said witnessing such segregation had a profound impact on him. After hearing King speak and learning of Rosa Parks’ demonstration on the bus, Lewis said he was motivated at a very young age despite his mother’s objections.

“My mother would say, ‘Don’t get in trouble, that’s just the way it is,’ ” Lewis said. “But I was inspired to do something. I thought if they can do it, we can do it, too.”

Lewis became one of the youngest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, and formed a close friendship with King. He participated in sit-ins at Nashville diners in 1960 and was arrested for the first time at age 20 at a sit-in. Lewis said he knew when he decided to get involved in the movement it would be a difficult yet necessary battle.

“I knew I had to take a long, hard look at the struggle,” Lewis said. “I fell against great odds, but I never gave up, never became hostile or bitter.”

At 23, Lewis helped organize the March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. Lewis was also a speaker at the march, and he said it was one of his proudest moments.

During a Freedom March from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala., on March 7, 1965, Lewis was severely beaten on Edmund Pettus Bridge by a state trooper. Lewis said although he thought at that moment he would die, he never has renounced the principles of nonviolence.

Lewis has served Georgia’s fifth district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic caucus and serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ebony Howard, president of the KU Black Student Union and Fort Worth senior, said she highly valued the recognition the Dole Institute was giving Lewis. She said she was looking forward to hearing Lewis speak because he was truly living history. Howard said Lewis’ work was relevant to students.

“I think his work in the Civil Rights is commendable because it was done at such a young age,” Howard said. “Most students don’t realize much of the movement was fought by teenagers.”

Monica Crane, Wichita senior and Dole Student Advisory board member, said sometimes the news highlighted politicians who were corrupt or working for personal gain. Crane said the prize was awarded to someone who was completely opposite that image. She said Lewis was one of the last living leaders who experienced the Civil Rights movement and few students had much knowledge of the era.

“He’s nationally respected for being one of the first in the movement,” Crane said. “He was nearly killed. He bears the scars of the movement.”

Dole Institute interim director Jonathan Earle said U.S. Sen. Bob Dole instituted the prize to show that politics could be an honorable profession. Earle said candidates were often considered true American heroes along with their political titles. Former mayor of New York City Rudy Guiliani, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Polish President Lech Walesa and South Dakota Sen. George McGovern are past Dole Leadership Prize winners.

Earle said Lewis was a unique American hero because of his leadership throughout the Civil Rights movements and his work in the U.S. Congress.

Lewis said receiving the Dole Leadership Prize was a very meaningful honor. He said any student could become a leader.

“Young people should find something that is so dear to them,” Lewis said. “Find a calling, a mission and bring about change. Leave something for the next generation.”

Tickets to the Dole Leadership Prize ceremony are free and may be picked up at the Lied Center, Murphy Hall or Student Union Activities in the Kansas Union.

— Edited by Amelia Freidline