Alabama’s Jesse Lewis Sr. has seen and made nearly a century of history
By Bob Blalock February 2, 2021
Jesse J. Lewis Sr. has had an amazing life and is able to offer great insights into social justice and other issues. (file)
Jesse J. Lewis Sr. has lived almost a century of history and, along the way, made some of his own.
Born Jan. 3, 1925, Lewis last month celebrated his 96
th birthday. He grew up in the Great Depression, dropped out of high school, served under Gen. George Patton in World War II, suffered through the racial hatred of Jim Crow and the civil rights era, became a serial entrepreneur, earned five academic degrees, served in the cabinet of one of Alabama’s most controversial politicians, spent a decade as a college president and this past year witnessed a deadly pandemic unlike anything he has seen while watching the social justice movement unfold.