Chap­ter 2: Nashville focus­es on the ear­ly life and for­ma­tive expe­ri­ences of John Lewis as he moves to Nashville in 1957 to attend the Amer­i­can Bap­tist The­o­log­i­cal Sem­i­nary. At just sev­en­teen years old, Lewis embarks on a new chap­ter away from his fam­i­ly, car­ry­ing with him a trunk gift­ed by his uncle. The sem­i­nary, estab­lished in 1924 to pro­vide edu­ca­tion for African Amer­i­cans pur­su­ing min­istry, has a rich his­to­ry. Despite being found­ed in response to the exclu­sion of Black Bap­tists from white insti­tu­tions, it is with­in these walls that Lewis begins his jour­ney toward becom­ing an advo­cate for civ­il rights. The cam­pus, with its pic­turesque views by the Cum­ber­land Riv­er, offers him both a sense of belong­ing and the oppor­tu­ni­ty for self-dis­cov­ery.

Upon arriv­ing in Nashville, Lewis set­tles into Grig­gs Hall, expe­ri­enc­ing the free­dom of liv­ing on his own for the first time. In order to sup­port his edu­ca­tion, he works in the din­ing hall, which expos­es him to a diverse group of stu­dents with sim­i­lar goals of pur­su­ing min­istry. While he immers­es him­self in his stud­ies, Lewis strug­gles with his speech imped­i­ment, which often leaves him feel­ing iso­lat­ed and dis­con­nect­ed from oth­ers. Despite this, he finds solace and com­fort in his aca­d­e­m­ic work, par­tic­u­lar­ly in sub­jects like his­to­ry and phi­los­o­phy, where he excels under the men­tor­ship of pro­fes­sors who inspire him to think crit­i­cal­ly about the world around him. Through his edu­ca­tion, Lewis begins to build a foun­da­tion for his future advo­ca­cy, where the pur­suit of knowl­edge goes hand-in-hand with the fight for social jus­tice.

The most sig­nif­i­cant influ­ence dur­ing his time in Nashville is Kel­ly Miller Smith, a respect­ed civ­il rights leader and min­is­ter who chal­lenges Lewis’s think­ing and urges him to con­sid­er how faith and social change inter­sect. As Lewis nav­i­gates his jour­ney at the sem­i­nary, he begins to see a divide between those focused on tra­di­tion­al min­istry and those, like Smith, who believe in using reli­gion to advo­cate for social change. This real­iza­tion sparks a grow­ing inter­est in civ­il rights issues, espe­cial­ly in light of the seg­re­ga­tion and inequal­i­ty that plagued the South at the time. Through Smith’s guid­ance, Lewis’s aware­ness deep­ens, and he becomes increas­ing­ly deter­mined to take action. This peri­od of his life proves to be a turn­ing point, as Lewis not only strength­ens his com­mit­ment to the min­istry but also begins to view the civ­il rights move­ment as an essen­tial aspect of his faith.

By join­ing the NAACP and attend­ing local meet­ings, Lewis becomes part of Nashville’s bur­geon­ing civ­il rights move­ment. These meet­ings serve as a plat­form for learn­ing and con­nect­ing with oth­er activists, who empha­size the phi­los­o­phy of non­vi­o­lent resis­tance inspired by Mahat­ma Gand­hi. As Lewis builds rela­tion­ships with oth­er like-mind­ed stu­dents, he is exposed to the urgency of the civ­il rights strug­gle. One of the most pro­found rela­tion­ships he forms is with Harold Cox, a fel­low stu­dent who guides him through the com­plex­i­ties of activism. Although Lewis ini­tial­ly befriends stu­dents who are less focused on activism, he remains res­olute­ly com­mit­ted to social jus­tice, dri­ven by the exam­ples set by lead­ers like Smith. His sense of pur­pose grows stronger as he begins to under­stand the sig­nif­i­cant role he will play in the ongo­ing fight for equal­i­ty.

As the spring semes­ter of 1959 arrives, Lewis’s com­mit­ment to civ­il rights activism inten­si­fies. He becomes deeply involved in plan­ning the sit-in protests aimed at deseg­re­gat­ing Nashville’s lunch coun­ters. His increas­ing inter­est in non­vi­o­lent resis­tance sets the stage for his future lead­er­ship role in the civ­il rights move­ment. This chap­ter high­lights not only Lewis’s intel­lec­tu­al and emo­tion­al growth but also his evo­lu­tion into a ded­i­cat­ed activist, ready to chal­lenge the sta­tus quo and push for sys­temic change. By immers­ing him­self in both aca­d­e­m­ic and activist cir­cles, Lewis solid­i­fies the foun­da­tion for his future role in the move­ment, mark­ing the begin­ning of a jour­ney that would change the course of his­to­ry.