John Lewis Award for Public Service Recipients
The John Lewis Award for Public Service to the Discipline of History is offered annually to recognize individuals outside the ranks of professional historians who have made a significant contribution to the study, teaching, and public understanding of history, in the interest of social justice.
2022
Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative
2021
Sam Pollard, New York University
2022 Lewis Award for Public Service
Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative
Bryan Stevenson is founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. A lawyer by training, Stevenson has dedicated his career to protecting the rights of the vulnerable, the incarcerated, and those condemned to death. Stevenson has won multiple cases before the US Supreme Court, including a ruling that banned mandatory life sentences without parole for children under the age of 17 and a ruling protecting condemned prisoners who suffer from mental illness.