As many members of the press are already aware, August 28th, the night that Sen. Barack Obama will officially accept the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States, is also the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington. The date holds great power because it has marked the beginning of a series of new eras in black politics at different stages in American history. Consider these seminal moments:

Atlanta—On Wednesday, August 13, 2008, Rep. John Lewis visited Grady Memorial Hospital’s Diagnostic Testing Laboratory and Infectious Disease Program.  The visits were part of a larger effort to reach out to healthcare professionals to explore the best ways to implement a comprehensive national healthcare agenda.

“We are all one people, one family, the human family.” That is a philosophy Rep. John Lewis often advocates.  Nowhere is its meaning more potent than in the issues of homelessness and health care.  Recent studies have shown that urban populations of homeless people have high rates of tuberculosis, pneumonia, influenza, and other airborne diseases, as well as other communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS.

On March 2, 2007, the Bluffton University baseball team was traveling from Ohio to Florida for a tournament. Early in the morning, on Interstate 75 in Atlanta, its chartered bus, attempting to exit the highway, fell off an overpass and landed on its side on the road below. The crash resulted in the deaths of five members of the baseball team, the driver and his wife, and injuries for many of the other 33 passengers on-board.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep John Lewis today backed a comprehensive measure that will help end the discriminatory practice of paying a woman less than a man for performing the same job. The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338)  will strengthen the landmark Equal Pay Act and close the loopholes that have allowed some employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay.