Corrupt Black Caucus POS (BIRM). Next up? Maxine? [10 News] Former Rep. John Conyers, a longtime Michigan Democrat who represented parts of Detroit for more than 50 years before his resignation in 2017, died Sunday, his son, John Conyers III, told CNN.
John James Conyers, Jr. was born in Highland Park, Michigan on May 16, 1929.
He graduated from Detroit's Northwestern High School, served in the Korean War and went on to law school.
He initially turned down a job in the office of longtime Congressman John Dingell, but then realized his mistake and pleaded for a second chance.
"He listened to me go through all this and put his arm around me and said let's go down to Sanders and have a milk shake and that started me off working in his office," Conyers remembered.
Conyers became active in the civil rights movement before making his own first bid for Congress and picked up some powerful support.
"I was endorsed by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Central United Methodist Church," he remembered.
He often said he was flattered to be the only member of Congress endorsed by Dr. King.
Conyers held on to his seat even as district lines were redrawn. He held positions of leadership on powerful committees and was the only member of the Judiciary Committee to take part in the impeachment hearings of both Presidents Nixon and Clinton.
The congressman also played a major role in more than 100 pieces of key legislation, including the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1968, 4 days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Conyers introduced the original bill for a King holiday. He kept pushing, and 15 years later, it was signed into law.