Georgia
Statue of John Lewis unveiled in Georgia to honor late civil rights leader
A 12-foot-tall statue of John Lewis was unveiled in Georgia on Saturday morning, honoring the legacy of the civil rights leader and congressman who died in 2020.
The statue stands in Decatur Square outside the historic Decatur courthouse in outer Atlanta, in a district Lewis represented in Congress from 1987 to his death. Lewis was 80 when he died due to complications related to pancreatic cancer.
The statue replaces a Confederate obelisk that was originally erected in 1908 and was taken down in June 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter protests that spread across the country after the murder of George Floyd.
“It’s exciting to see it going up and exciting for the city because of what he represents and what it’s replacing,” Basil Watson, the sculptor who made the statue, told the Associated Press.
Lewis was a key figure in the civil rights movement as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which led protests across the south. He was one of several protesters who were brutally beaten by police during a peaceful march of 600 people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, a day that was termed “Bloody Sunday” for the police’s violent crackdown against protesters that day.
Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by then president Barack Obama for his role in the civil rights movement and as a congressman.
The statue portrays Lewis with his hands over his heart, a gesture Michael Collins, who served as Lewis’s chief of staff for 21 years, said “meant so much to him because he just wanted to thank everybody”.
“That was a way … of showing love to everybody. And so that’s why this is so fitting of a posture for the congressman, to be saying thank you, I love you,” Collins told local newspaper Decaturish in 2022, when the statue was first commissioned.
The former Confederate obelisk was often vandalized by protesters, who long called for its removal. The monument was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group that often memorialized leaders of the Ku Klux Klan.
An inscription at the former obelisk, written by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, read: “To the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy, of whose virtues in peace and in war are witnesses to the end that justice may be done and that the truth perish not.”
A total of 33 Confederate statues were removed in multiple states in 2021 and 2022, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which advocates for the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols.
They were designed to hold a drink, but cups produced in Rome, Georgia, have become one of the FIFA Men’s World Cup’s most unexpected souvenirs.
Inside the Top Cup plant in Rome, millions of cups were created to celebrate the world’s biggest sporting event.
“We made 10 million over 70 different graphics for the World Cup,” said Rome native and Top Cup General Manager Zach Dixon.
The plant in north Georgia produces up to 750,000 cups a day.
“We’ve always been really proud of the cup … but the World Cup has obviously taken it to another level,” said Top Cup CEO David Cuthbert.
Fans have been taking them home from matches. Some have even been listed for sale online.
“We’ve always been really proud of the cup… but the World Cup has obviously taken it to another level,” said Cuthbert.
Dixon said they begin the process with massive coils of aluminum, each weighing about 30,000 pounds. The metal is stamped, stretched, washed, and moved down the line.
The plant produces about 1,100 cups every minute.
Ricardo Marques, the senior vice president of marketing for Michelob ULTRA, said that there have been venue-specific, match-specific, and Finals-specific stadium cups for the World Cup. There are also three separate red, white, and blue designs available for fans at bars and restaurants around the U.S.
“We’ve seen an incredible response to the collection. Together, these commemorative cups give fans a unique keepsake and a lasting reminder of an unforgettable FIFA World Cup experience and the moments that brought millions of people together through the world’s game,” Marques said.
Cuthbert said his company has seen how the World Cup has done wonders for metro Atlanta businesses.
“Our team in Rome, Georgia takes tremendous pride in helping bring this fan experience to life for one of the world’s biggest sporting events,” he said.
So when soccer fans celebrate the surprise victory or mourn their last-minute loss, they’re doing so with a little piece of Georgia.
Athlon Sports projected the best SEC games for each week of the 2026 regular season.
The conference features some of the most compelling matchups in all of college football, from opening weekend through rivalry week. The selections emphasize games anticipated to have the biggest impact on the SEC championship race and College Football Playoff picture.
Florida’s annual clash with Georgia was tabbed as one of the SEC’s premier fixtures. The game has grown in national significance since it began in 1904, continuing as a battle of blue-blood programs that routinely produces iconic results. The game temporarily moves to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta during the Jacksonville stadium renovations.
The Jon Sumrall era carries with it an increasing sense of belief — many experts see the Gators as a dark-horse CFB playoff contender. Regardless of its final win-loss record, UF will play a part in shaping the season’s narrative as they face several post-season favorites in Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Noted in the article is the SEC’s depth and newly implemented nine-game conference schedule. Georgia, Texas, Alabama and LSU appear multiple times on this list, with Georgia facing Alabama in Week 6 and Ole Miss in Week 10 while LSU hosts Clemson in Week 1 and will see Texas in Week 11 take on Alabama.
Many contenders from the SEC face multiple nationally relevant foes over the course of the season.
Athlon Sports’ Best game for every week of the 2026 season
- Week 1: Clemson at LSU (Sept. 5)
- Week 2: Ohio State at Texas (Sept. 12)
- Week 3: LSU at Ole Miss (Sept. 19)
- Week 4: Oklahoma at Georgia (Sept. 26)
- Week 5: Auburn at Tennessee (Oct. 3)
- Week 6: Georgia at Alabama (Oct. 10)
- Week 7: Alabama at Tennessee (Oct. 17)
- Week 8: Ole Miss at Texas (Oct. 24)
- Week 9: Florida vs. Georgia (Atlanta) (Oct. 31)
- Week 10: Georgia at Ole Miss (Nov. 7)
- Week 11: Texas at LSU (Nov. 14)
- Week 12: Texas A&M at Oklahoma (Nov. 21)
- Week 13: Texas at Texas A&M (Friday) (Nov. 27)
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
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