Rufus Lewis

Rufus A. Lewis (November 30, 1906 – August 19, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and politician.

Life and family Rufus Andrew Lewis was born in Montgomery, Alabama on November 30, 1906. He was the fourth and last child of Lula and Jerry Lewis. As a teenager, he attended Alabama State Laboratory High School, a tuition-funded private school with limited capacity that was used by Alabama State College to train teachers. After junior college, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend university. Lewis graduated from Fisk University in 1931 with a degree in Business Administration.

Career Rufus Lewis returned to Alabama after graduating, where he taught for one year at the Conecuh County Training School in Evergreen, Alabama (1931-1932) and then at People's Village School in Mt. Meigs, Alabama (1932-1933).

Activism Lewis first became active in the voter registration movement in 1938 when he went to work with students in the “Citizenship Club” at Alabama State Laboratory High School.

He was a member of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and a founding member of the Montgomery Improvement Association which organized the Montgomery bus boycott. He served on the organization's executive committee and was chairman of the transportation committee and the voter registration committee.

Political work Lewis’ early work as a civil rights activist lead to a successful political career later in life. In 1960 he co-founded the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC). Lewis was the first president of the Montgomery County Democratic Conference, 2nd Congressional District of the Democratic Conference. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Community Action Committee. He later attended the official signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at the White House. In 1976, he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed Lewis to become the first Black U.S. Marshal of the Middle District of Alabama. He worked in this role until 1981.

Honors and awards In 1994, one of Montgomery's libraries was renamed Rufus A. Lewis Regional Library in his honor. The street that he and his wife lived on for many years was also changed from Bolivar Lane to Rufus A. Lewis Lane.

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