John Lewis Statue Unveiled, Replaces Confederate Monument

John Lewis spent his life fighting against racism ... and, he's still doing it from beyond the grave -- with a new statue of him replacing a Confederate monument.

The late congressman was immortalized in Decatur Square in outer Atlanta ... within the district Lewis repped in Congress for more than 30 years until he passed in 2020.

Local leaders unveiled the 12-foot-tall statue of JL Saturday morning ... and, they gave it a meaningful location -- officially replacing an obelisk memorializing the Confederacy erected way back in 1908.

The obelisk hasn't actually stood on the pedestal John took since 2020 ... when Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation and numerous outdated monuments were taken down.

John was a seminal figure in the Civil Rights movement ... protesting alongside people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and marching at Selma in 1965 -- where he was brutally beaten by police along with hundreds of other demonstrators.

Lewis became a congressman in 1987 ... serving at the forefront of the Democratic Party until his death from pancreatic cancer complications.

He even received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Obama back in 2011 ... with Obama saying generations of Americans would think of Lewis when they thought of courage in the U.S.A.