Remembering a Pioneering Voice in American Civil Rights

In Washington, he became a relentless architect of civil rights, labor protections, and voting access, helping to institutionalize gains that had been won with blood and fear in the streets. Yet he never stopped reminding colleagues that laws were merely promises waiting to be tested in real lives. His death severs a living link to the generation that forced America to confront its own lies—and believed, stubbornly, that the country could still be pushed closer to the truth.