--- title: SNCC Activists on What It Was Like to Work With John Lewis description: "The public John you saw speaking on those stages was not that different from John our friend," recall SNCC activists Dorie and Joyce Ladner canonical: https://time.com/5870299/john-lewis-sncc-ladner/ author: Dorie Ladner article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-07-23T12:00:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:54:59.260Z article:section: Ideas og:title: SNCC Activists on What It Was Like to Work With John Lewis og:description: "My sister once asked him, 'John, why do you keep allowing these racists to beat you over your head?' It was the times in which we lived." og:url: https://time.com/5870299/john-lewis-sncc-ladner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b932f6cf01b85fd/698a1095457a523d56d64386/john-lewis-nashville-sncc-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: john-lewis-nashville-sncc-protest og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: SNCC Activists on What It Was Like to Work With John Lewis twitter:description: "My sister once asked him, 'John, why do you keep allowing these racists to beat you over your head?' It was the times in which we lived." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b932f6cf01b85fd/698a1095457a523d56d64386/john-lewis-nashville-sncc-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'We Were the Sum Total of Our Work.' Activists Dorie and Joyce Ladner Recall What It Was Like to Organize With John Lewis in the 1960s > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Dorie Ladner](https://time.com/author/dorie-ladner/) and [Joyce Ladner](https://time.com/author/joyce-ladner/) Jul 23, 2020 12:00 PM UTC  John Lewis, in the foreground holding a sign, demonstrates in downtown Nashville on March 23, 1963. John Lewis, in the foreground holding a sign, demonstrates in downtown Nashville on March 23, 1963. Frank Empson—The Tennessean/USA Today Network by [Dorie Ladner](https://time.com/author/dorie-ladner/) and [Joyce Ladner](https://time.com/author/joyce-ladner/) Jul 23, 2020 12:00 PM UTC **DORIE LADNER:** My sister and I met [John Lewis](https://time.com/5697668/john-lewis-dies/) in Jackson, Miss., when we were students at Tougaloo College. He was one of the Freedom Riders who returned to Mississippi to settle some matters related to Parchman Penitentiary, where they were all jailed in 1961 after being arrested while defying segregation. They came back to pay their bonds and settle their legal issues. At the time, I was learning about non­violent action and community organizing, and after I started becoming involved with SNCC and the movement, I would often see him in meetings along with the rest of the group’s leaders—Diane Nash, James Bevel and others. **JOYCE LADNER:** The public is attaching words like _saint_ to John but we certainly didn’t view him that way. He was arrested a lot, back in the early years. You [put your life on the line](https://time.com/5354626/john-lewis-civil-rights-movement/) for a purpose, to get freedom for Black people who were denied the right to vote. My sister once asked him, “John, why do you keep allowing these racists to beat you over your head?” It was the [times in which we lived](https://time.com/5869640/john-lewis-human-rights/). It was not [Black Lives Matter](https://time.com/5869725/john-lewis-legacy-activists/?utm%5Fsource=feedburner&utm%5Fmedium=feed&utm%5Fcampaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29) times, but a small band of young, Southern, mostly Black people fought against extraordinarily powerful people and structures and helped to dismantle them. We were the sum total of our work. **DL:** I ended up dropping out of school in December of 1962 and went to work for SNCC’s Atlanta office, which was the size of a closet, because history was being made and I had to be a part of it. We were all in our early 20s, trying to figure out what we were going to do with our lives and how we were going to survive, making $9.64 a week after taxes, moving from place to place not knowing where we were going to sleep the next night or eat. We lived off the Black community; the people fed us and that’s how we survived. That was the whole concept of SNCC and the movement for the most part. We were all of the same mindset. Dr. King had more elevation because of his stature—he was a family man of some means—but we were students. Singing was one of our primary organizing tools. John couldn’t sing that well, but we all enjoyed singing. Singing brought joy and peace and calm to us; it’s very difficult to organize a group of scared people in Selma, Ala., and Albany, Ga., but once you start singing, everyone joins in a common chord and it gives you more power and strength. **JL:** Before \[he announced\] his diagnosis, he came to a gala at which I was honored, and I noticed he was smaller. We were going to get together for lunch, but I never followed through. We embraced and he asked me about my sister and that was it. But he was the same John. The public John you saw speaking on those stages was not that different from John our friend. **DL:** Growing up poor in Jim Crow Mississippi, our mother trained us to stand up for ourselves. John Lewis was soft-spoken so I tried to get a rise out of him sometimes. It was all in good fun, he laughed it off. John admired strong women; he admired intelligence. He knew I would go down fighting and he liked that about me, and I respected him for his beliefs, his nonviolence. We learned from each other that, even though we all had our beliefs, we were in a common cause for justice and equality and we would do whatever is necessary to try to achieve those goals. _—As told, in two conversations, to Olivia B. Waxman_ _This story appears in the Aug. 3, 2020, issue of TIME_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5870299/john-lewis-sncc-ladner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5870299/john-lewis-sncc-ladner/"},"headline":"'We Were the Sum Total of Our Work.' Activists Dorie and Joyce Ladner Recall What It Was Like to Organize With John Lewis in the 1960s","datePublished":"2020-07-23T12:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:54:59.260Z","description":"\"My sister once asked him, 'John, why do you keep allowing these racists to beat you over your head?' 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