Tales from the Newseum Broadcast Department: Part 4, John Lewis Documentary Shoot

By Dean’s Intern Hannah Sedgwick at the Newseum

Congressman Lewis and me, arguably the happiest person on the planet at this very moment.

Congressman Lewis and me, arguably the happiest person on the planet at this very moment.

Just when I thought my internship at the Newseum’s Broadcast Department was over, it started right back up again.

My official last day was this past Tuesday and I was really sad to leave all of the amazing people I got to know so well.

The next day, I was invited to be a Production Assistant for a filming at a local school with Congressman John Lewis. In one of my previous posts back in March, I wrote about doing the back research for a documentary on Lewis. I love learning about the Civil Rights Era and generally anything that has to do with the 1960s. I took a course my sophomore year called “How the News Media Shaped History” where I learned a lot about the power of the press in the movement. I was hooked.

The Newseum is working on a documentary on Congressman Lewis with his recent release of a graphic novel about his life. March: Book 1 was released last year and books 2 and 3 are to come. The entire semester I was hoping to meet Congressman Lewis since he apparently makes frequent appearances at the Newseum, but he didn’t stop by when I was in the office.

I stopped at the Newseum first before I went over to the school. We watched the promo video that I pulled all the content for from the Newseum archives, which was a cool experience in itself to see the work I helped with in a real pitch video.

We went over the the school and set up the lights and cameras. Finally, Congressman Lewis arrived. I was so excited to meet him but attempted to keep my composure. I shook his hand and told him how excited I was to meet him. I told him that I went to American and that I was taking “Oral Histories of the Civil Rights Movement” with Professor Julian Bond, another living legend of the Civil Rights era, to which he responded “Oh yes! Julian!” and mentioned that he has an honorary degree from AU. I took a photo with him, more like my boss said, “Excuse me, Mr. Lewis, can you take a picture with Hannah, she’s gonna explode.” He even signed my copy of the book, which is the same copy I used to scan pages for the promo video.

He gave an awesome speech and we filmed him speaking, interacting with people at the event and signing books with his co-author, Andrew Aydin, in a run down auditorium/gym.

This was definitely a surprise bonus to my internship. I wasn’t anticipating actually seeing another project I worked on come to life.

Congressman Lewis, his staffer & co-author Andrew Aydin, and my boss/Newseum VP of Broadcasting Paul Sparrow at the filming.

Congressman Lewis, his staffer & co-author Andrew Aydin, and my boss/Newseum VP of Broadcasting Paul Sparrow at the filming.

My signed copy.
My signed copy.