Son of long-serving lawmaker preserves father's legacy in book, continues his political advocacy in life

Before introducing John Conyers III, author of “My Father’s House,” moderator Donna Leinwand Leger invited the National Press Club audience at the Headliners Book Event on Sept. 9 to “step inside history with the eyes of a son for a fresh and deeply personal perspective on the history we know.” His late father, John Conyers Jr., was the longest-serving Black congressman in U.S. history, a Michigan Democrat in the House of Representatives for over 50 years (1965 to 2017), a towering figure in American politics.

The son, who is now a political advocate, brought stories of his own journey into the larger story of his father’s life and legacy through questions from Leger, a former NPC president, and more questions submitted online or by audience members.

What inspired him to write this book? “It wasn’t my idea,” he said. “We had a proposal and parts of a manuscript…” and his father spent decades collecting material for a memoir. They talked about it and worked on it together. In the years before his father’s death, in 2019, after he told him how hard it was to grow up with an absent father, they grew close. And in 2020, a year after his father died at 90, Conyers III chose to complete the project his dad couldn’t.

Writing the book, just published in May, has been “cathartic,” he said.

“I’ve always had a reverence for his work,” the son said. Conyers III is a dedicated political organizer, rooted in the Detroit community of his origin.

As much as he supports Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., it was his father who first introduced “Medicare for All” in the House 22 years ago and continued introducing it every year. He feels his father has been erased from the narrative.

Leger asked if he had any plans to run for public office after two attempts that saw him defeated. “Yes, I’m thinking about another run for office… . My focus is on education, political education,” he replied.

The times he ran for office, he explained, were because no one was speaking to those issues.

In her introduction, Leger had asked the audience to “imagine what it would be like growing up with famous figures like Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Gloria Steinem and Berry Gordy in your living room.” When she asked Conyers III if he knew, as a child, how famous these people were, he shook his head. The audience got a little laugh out of that reaction.

But, he said, the stark contrast between the way he grew up, in a prosperous Detroit community, and the way his cousins on his mother's side did nearby -- he visited them regularly and played sports with them -- stays with him. He was the one who once as a child got to fly back to Detroit on Air Force One, for instance.

Who has most influenced him, outside of his family members? Real estate entrepreneur, author and political fundraiser Don Peebles, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Rep. Maxine Waters -- “She’s always a phone call away,” he said.

He remembers his dad always saying that “everything is connected” and “Who ever said life was fair? It’s all about overcoming.”

“I didn’t inherit money,” Conyers III reflected, “I inherited rights.” 

“Until he passed away, my father was my best friend.”