Are you still as stressed out about politics as I am? What
have we done, America? I find it hard to concentrate on anything except how to
channel my fear, disgust and outrage into effective political action. So when I
heard on Thursday morning that Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis’s
graphic novel March, Book Three had won the National Book Award (the first
graphic novel to be so honored) I knew what my post this week would be about. I
practically ran to my neighborhood indy bookstore and
bought March Trilogy Slipcase Set of all three volumes. Aimed at teens and young adults, March
is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves part of the new resistance
to the hatred, racism and misogyny of our upcoming administration, no matter
what your age. March is both a refresher course in the history of the civil
rights movement as told by someone who lived it, and a reminder that now, more
than ever, we need to stay vigilant, to never forget how hard won our freedoms
are, to stand up and march!
John Lewis had been inspired as a young man by the 1950s
comic book Martin Luther King & The Montgomery Story. After learning of
this, Andrew Aydin, an employee in the congressional office of Rep. Lewis,
conceived of the March trilogy. He collaborated with Lewis on the text, and Nate
Powell, a New York Times best-selling graphic novelist, was brought on board to
do the illustrations. The prose is lively and compelling, while the stark black
and white illustrations with lettered text, sound effects and background music amplify
the story.
Book One opens with “krak, whap, thud, thump,” the cartoon-ized
sounds we normally associate with fictionalized superheroes. But these are the horrifying
sounds of real-life superheroes, John Lewis and other non-violent protesters, being
beaten while kneeling to pray on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
This part of the story, however, is not told fully until the end of Book Three.
Instead we cut to Rep. Lewis preparing for Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration on
a cold Washington, DC morning, a scene which is interwoven with Lewis’s personal
story across all three volumes.
Lewis’ parents were sharecroppers in rural Alabama, eking
out an existence on 110 acres that they bought for $300, money his father had
earned by tenant farming. Young John was put in charge of the chickens, a job
which he took very seriously, dreaming of having enough money to buy an
incubator from the Sears-Roebuck catalog, or as they called it, the wish book.
He also dreamed of becoming a preacher, preaching regularly to his chickens.
Click here to see Rachel Madow's report on the publication of Book Two and her interview with Lewis, Aydin and Powell.
Years later, when the young preacher tried to transfer from
American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville to Troy State, which wouldn’t
accept any black students, he wrote to introduce himself to Dr. Martin Luther
King. The letter resulted in the first meeting between the two, a meeting that
made a lasting impression on Lewis. He ultimately decided to stay in Nashville
and it was there, through his church, that he was introduced to Gandhi’s ideas
of nonviolence. He was on his way.
Lewis would go on to become chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington, speaking at the podium before King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Lewis was arrested more than 40 times over the years and suffered severe injuries through beatings, but never strayed from his belief in nonviolence. The bravery and hard work of Lewis and many others culminated in President Johnson signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act in to law.
Lewis would go on to become chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington, speaking at the podium before King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Lewis was arrested more than 40 times over the years and suffered severe injuries through beatings, but never strayed from his belief in nonviolence. The bravery and hard work of Lewis and many others culminated in President Johnson signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act in to law.
Buy this book for the young people on your holiday list, buy
it for yourself.
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.
Click here to purchase the March Trilogy Slipcase Set from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book One from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book Two from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book Three from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book One from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book Two from Amazon.com
Click here to purchase March Book Three from Amazon.com
No comments:
Post a Comment