March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Note: This is a bit different from my usual post because it is part of a class assignment!

March is a three-part graphic novel memoir from John Lewis, current House of Representatives member and civil rights icon. The first book covers Lewis’s childhood and college involvement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee orchestrating sit-ins, the second volume covers voting rights and freedom rides, and the third covers the March on Washington. Andrew Aydin helped Lewis write the story, and Nate Powell drew the illustrations.

In Book One, John Lewis is getting ready in 2009 to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American president. A mother and her children visit his office for the sake of history, and since he is there, he begins to tell them about his life. He grew up in rural Alabama, witnessing segregation and taking an interest in preaching. Lewis greatly admires the nonviolence Martin Luther King, Jr. preaches, interested in how he links religion to social justice. Unfortunately, he cannot attend a local law school because it is segregated, and his family does not agree to take the risk and sue.  Lewis attends nonviolent activist workshops and joins the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). With them, he organizes and participates in sit-ins, refusing to move from the counter at an illegally segregated “whites only” restaurant while enduring abuse–and eventually integrating some restaurants in Nashville.

Racism is depicted in a brutally, realistic way, including language, but Lewis and his company stress taking the moral ground. While I do wish the text would have been bigger because it would have been more comfortable to read, the illustrations do a great job of enhancing and capturing the feeling of the text. For instance, the text of songs wind through the page, growing in strength with the crowd, and powerful moments are captured with blackout pages with a central image and little text. This should be a great read for graphic novel fans, those new to the medium, and those interested in history, social justice, and African-American literature.

Links John Lewis would enjoy:

• The NAACP
• SNCC Legacy Project
• Troy University
• The Activist Hive: Nonviolence
• Barack Obama’s Website

Video: John Lewis’s March on Washington Speech