Organization inspired by John Lewis wants to place everyone in ‘Same House’

Image of the Same House's 2023 Beloved Benefits dinner.

Dec 19, 2024

Rodney Bullard has lived in Atlanta all of his life, so he is quite familiar with the legacy, words and work of the late Civil Rights leader and United States Rep. John Lewis. But there was one phrase that always stuck with him.

“We all live in the same house,” Lewis said in a 2010 speech, parts of which he repeated throughout his career.

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Credit: contributed

Rodney Bullard

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Credit: TNS

The late U.S. Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga., poses for a portrait in front of his newly unveiled art exhibit "John Lewis-Good Trouble" in the atrium of the domestic terminal at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, on April 8, 2019. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)

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Credit: Olivia Bowdoin

Musician John Legend performs at the Beloved Benefit, which raised $8.8 million during its annual event at the Georgia World Congress Center on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC).

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About the Author

Ernie Suggs

Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.