'I can't stop now, I'm too young': Dr. Jesse J. Lewis Sr. turns 100, reflects on his legacy
One of Birmingham's renowned entrepreneurs and civil rights icons turned 100 on Friday.
Dr. Jesse J. Lewis Sr. was born in Northport on Jan. 3, 1925, and raised by his grandmother. After the tenth grade, he dropped out of high school and joined the military, where he spent three years and served under General George Patton in World War II.
Two days after he was honorably discharged, Lewis set out to be the first person in his family to graduate from college. He would achieve that goal again and again, earning a total of five different degrees, including his doctorate.
Lewis told 米兰体育 13 he considers finishing college to be his greatest achievement.
"All of my life, I worked hard," he said. "My main objective was to finish college."
While he was proud of that achievement, his grandmother had her sights set on bigger goals for Lewis.
"She told me all along that you're going to be president of the United States... for a couple years, I thought I was," he said. "I thought that because my grandmother told me, not for long, but I bought books on being president and all that. I really thought that for a period of time, but I'm glad it went away."
Though Lewis never became president, his grandmother did get to see him in the White House.
"I worked and got enough money, and she and I went to Washington, and she got to see the White House, and I showed her the chair I was going to sit in and all that," he said. "She said, 'Let's knock on the door and let these people know you're out here.'"
Lewis may not have served as President of the United States, but he did spend some time as the President of Lawson State Community College.
Lewis said he was happy to help people learn, something he'd already been doing through his businesses.
"I worked hard trying to help some black people who hadn't had a chance to make a difference," Lewis said.
He was able to do that by giving them jobs at his businesses. In 1954, Lewis founded Jesse J. Lewis & Associates, now Agency54, and made history as the nation's first black public relations firm.
He didn't stop there, one year later in 1955, the Coca-Cola Beverage Company would become one of Lewis's first clients. He was responsible for the first Coca-Cola advertisement featuring a black person.
In 1963, Lewis added The Birmingham Times newspaper to the list of businesses he had founded. He told 米兰体育 13 in a past interview that he founded "The Birmingham Times" in the same year as the Civil Rights Act as a way to "to record Black history from a positive standpoint."
Under his leadership, the paper grew into a centerpiece of Birmingham.
During his time as a journalist, he interviewed former Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
His first question was, "Governor, are you racist?"
"He said, 'yeah,' and that answer shocked me," Lewis said in the previous interview.
Wallace would go on to tell him that he wasn't born a racist but that he wasn't going to die one.
Now, as Dr. Lewis reflects on his life in the past century, he's also looking ahead. Even in the triple digits, he still goes into work several times a week, and says he doesn't plan on changing that any time soon.
"I ain't but 100 years old," Lewis said. "I can't stop now; I'm too young."
When the 米兰体育 13 crew left his house after this sit down, Dr. Lewis was headed into the office to continue trying to make a difference. He encouraged others to do the same saying, "You've just got to make up your mind that you're going to make a difference everyday of your lifetime and you're going to do something for someone who needs it everyday of your lifetime."
Video below: Dr. Jesse Lewis talks relationship with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace