Last night was clearly social justice comic book night in my house. I spent the evening immersed first in George Takei's story, and then in this three volume set that tells the story of John Lewis' life and work through his childhood to the historic Selma march. It is beautifully told, with fashes forward to his experience of seeing the first black president inagurated on January 20th 2009. I cried, I thought, my heart ached as I reflected on the differences and similarities between the movement then and the movement now. Each time I opened one of the volumes, the dedication would touch me - "the the past and future children of the movement." I hope I can live up to the call to be one of them Mr. Lewis.

I had heard of March on Litsy, my current favorite bookish social media platform. People were posting pictures of various pages from the graphic novels and discussing Congressman John Lewis's incredible story.

I kept thinking I should buy this trilogy. But I do try to limit the number of physical books I buy.

And then in January Donald Trump tweeted. The Washington Post wrote "Rep. John Lewis's books sell out following Donald Trump's attacks."

And I couldn't buy March? I don't think so. I waited patiently for my Trilogy Slipcase Edition to arrive.

Even better, some fabulous people over at Litsy decided to read #MarchInMarch with anyone else who wanted to share their thoughts on this inspirational story of the only Civil Rights speaker from the 1963 March on Washington who is still alive.

Book One begins by setting the tone for the entire trilogy.

John Lewis is marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the day known as Bloody Sunday. He and everyone on the bridge are praying when they are attacked by the armed policemen.

The last images are Lewis's hands dragging across the pavement as he offers no resistance to his attackers. The image just blacks out implying that Lewis did as well.

After the inside title page featuring a beautiful sunrise seen from the Lincoln Memorial, Lewis shifts his story to January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day for President Barrack Obama. This shift in narration and consistent use of President Obama's historic Inauguration as a framing device in all three of the books periodically remind the reader that hope does exist.

Once Congressman Lewis arrives at his office on Capitol Hill he begins retelling his story to a few young children from his district.

Pike County Alabama is less than 90 miles from Selma. John Lewis grew up helping to work his family's farm, loving school, and preaching to the chickens he raised.

At age 11, Lewis travels to Buffalo with his Uncle Otis. The drive out of the deep South is harrowing. They bring baskets of food and rely on Otis' prior knowledge of places that allow African-Americans to buy gas and use the "colored" washrooms.

Once he gets to Buffalo, though, Lewis sees what the world may offer him. Interracial neighborhoods. Escalators. Bags of candy. City life.

Returning to Alabama is difficult for Lewis because now he knows. He knows that he doesn't have to accept the world as it is around him.

Lewis recalls loving his trips to the library. He even remembers the name of his librarian! Even though he couldn't live in Buffalo, he could connect with the African-American community outside of his own through magazines and books.

He also tells how he would skip his farm chores by hiding until the school bus would drive by. Then he'd dash out to meet the bus because he knew how important his education would be.

The use of the Inauguration Day frame story allows Lewis to fast forward to his college years in Nashville at the American Baptist Theological Seminary.

While he's in Nashville, he meets Jim Lawson and Diane Nash. Together they study non-violence. Their group grows and trains. They begin sit-ins at various segregated lunch counters around Nashville.

They also begin serving time for their arrests. They would not pay bail and allow the corrupt system to profit from injustice.

While Book One ends with the mayor desegregating the lunch counters in Nashville, the image of three angry white males watching two African-American men enter a diner crystallizes the tension around them.

Book Two picks up with the Nashville student group focusing on fast food restaurants and cafeterias. Once again the non-violent protestors are met with violence. They begin standing in line for movie theater tickets. When they are refused admittance, they get back in line. Violence escalates there as well.

Ultimately, Rev. Will Campbell came in to discuss the escalating violence. While Lewis respected Campbell's concerns, he advocated for marching. Over a two-page spread, Lewis repeats, "We're gonna march" three times.

While this response infuriates the older members of the group, Lewis finds himself steady with his beliefs. He continues to protest the segregation policies at the movie theaters and ends up in jail on his twenty-first birthday.

Then the story focuses on the summer of 1961 and the Freedom Rides. CORE, in keeping with Gandhi's non-violent practices, sent out letters explaining their plan for civil disobedience.

As I read Book Two of March, I also watched Freedom Riders on PBS' American Experience. This worthwhile two-hour documentary includes interview segments with John Lewis.

While I knew that Dr. King had spoken at the mass gathering at the First Baptist Church, I did not know that when the governor placed Montgomery under "qualified martial law" the Alabama National Guard kept the freedom riders and all people at the meeting trapped inside the church.

And the freedom riders kept pushing. These young college students would not back down to even the more traditional leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. They knew that they had to take a stand.

While the thought of going to Parchman terrified them, the idea of backing down was unthinkable.

Then in 1963 George Wallace becomes the 45th Governor of Alabama. While I despise him, I love the effectiveness of the panel below depicting his snarling face. The fear he must have instilled in people as they look up as the columns rise into the sky like they're elevating his hateful words.

"Bombingham" is the nickname earned. I wonder how locals perceive that city today.

Dr. King goes to jail and famously smuggles out his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which famously defends non-violence and calls upon everyone to break unjust laws as a matter of moral principle and responsibility.

And then the children begin marching. When I was in Memphis at the National Civil Rights Museum, I saw a photo of an African-American girl holding a sign that said, "Can a man love God and hate his brother?"

Her depiction within the graphic novel transcends the famous photograph from the exhibit. The wall plaque stated that the photo was taken just before police took their signs away. But the unending quest for human dignity? That wouldn't be stopped. How can these protests be anything but humiliating for Birmingham and the entire nation?

Book Two begins to close with the 1963 March on Washington.

Of particular interest to me was the controversy surrounding the speech John Lewis gave that day. The graphic novel depicts the speech he ultimately gave after much arguing and revising.

At the end of the book, you can read his draft of his original speech that he wanted to deliver. There are some serious changes in the word choices and tone.

Here's a piece of the speech he gave:

“We will march through the South; through the streets of Jackson, through the streets of Danville, through the streets of Cambridge, through the streets of Birmingham. But we will march with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today. By the force of our demands, our determination, and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces, and put them together in the image of God and democracy. We must say: ‘Wake up, America! Wake up!!’”

Here's the same segment from his original draft:

“The time will come when we will not confine our marching to Washington. We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. We shall pursue our own ‘scorched earth’ policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground — nonviolently. We shall fragment the South into a thousand pieces and put them back together in the image of democracy. We will make the action of the past few months look petty. And I say to you, WAKE UP AMERICA!”

Book Three opens with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and ensuing violence on African-Americans in that community.

At this point in the movement, Diane Nash and John Lewis turn their attention to voting rights. In April 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is established to challenge the traditional all white Democratic Party delegation at the Democratic National Convention.

To prepare for the Freedom Summer, two groups, SNCC and CORE, began recruiting college students. These two groups made up of mostly younger non-traditional Civil Rights leaders knew that sending college students into Mississippi to educate African-American adults and encourage them to try to register to vote would be dangerous.

They screened applicants to find the truly dedicated.

During Freedom Summer, Mickey Schwerner, Andy Goodman, and James Chaney were murdered. Their bodies buried and hidden.

While Freedom Summer continued, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. While this law was useful in helping to desegregate American society, it did nothing to empower African-Americans to determine their own future with an unregulated right to vote.

Later in the summer Rockefeller and Goldwater battle for the Republican nomination.

And the traditional Democrats effectively block the Mississippi Freedom Party from representing anyone. Johnson receives the nomination and he goes on to win re-election in a landslide.

If you want to see a fantastic graphic of Johnson's electoral win, go to 270toWin.

As Lewis points out, Johnson still lost the South.

Back in Selma, more and more citizens were lining up outside the courthouses waiting to register to vote.

At one point a third grade teacher and one of her students was arrested and jailed. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers were able to get everyone released that same day. But, as one of my Litsy friends sarcastically put it: You know you're on the right side of history when you're arresting third graders.

After the assassination of Malcolm X, and the death of another protestor Jimmie Lee Jackson, John Lewis decides that he must stand with the people of Selma and march.

Here the graphic novel shows John Lewis singing as he packs his backpack to march on Bloody Sunday, and then the story switches back to Inauguration Day for President Obama. As the President greets everyone at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building, John Lewis is overcome with emotion.

He asks President Obama to sign his invitation.

After Bloody Sunday and Turnaround Tuesday, President Johnson delivers a nationwide address about the events in Selma. Lewis characterizes the speech as "one of the most moving speeches I have ever heard an American president give on civil rights."

On March 21, 1965, John Lewis joins the major civil rights leaders of the time and together they march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and on to Montgomery.

And finally the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed into law. The last few pages focus on Lewis's thoughts on the Civil Rights Movement and the immediate impact of the Inauguration of America's first African-American President. The sentiments on those pages brought tears to my eyes.

March should be required reading for every American, but most especially our ignorant 45th tweeter in chief. Trump wrote, "Congressman Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about election results. All talk, talk, talk - no actions or results. Sad!"

John Lewis embodies action and results. He is the march: body, mind, and spirit.

Gifts for both sets of niblings, Christmas 2020.

Graphic Novel Book Club, April 2017

I read all three volumes together for the last book club meeting and so all of these reviews are going to end up going together.

Like many people I felt the need to get this book into my hands and the hands of those reading with me as soon as our president decided to slander the wrong congressmen for not understanding how the world worked, or having done enough for it. What I didn't know going into this book, I feel is printed on my heart coming out of it.

I felt so deeply moved and charged by this book. I felt the use of gorgeous color covers of such wam colors but deeply rooted images and messages of the time worked amazingly against the stark, straight to the point black and white of the interior pages. I love the inclusion of it being a story to children, and a leadup to the meeting with Obama, and how it ended with the idea for making these books.

The story between the beginning and ending frames is one to break the heart and make the soul of America, marked in blood and bloodied courage. I felt weak, ashamed, proud, angry, and sorrowful in so many different places. I felt so glad that these books had sold out twice on Amazon from so many people wanting to educate themselves, and I feel like I've been changed in ways beyond words for adding it to my/our ongoing and current fight.

An excellent blow-by-blow of the southern civil rights movement from the perspective of activist John Lewis, who sadly passed away just last year. Highly recommended as a good entry-point for those wanting to learn about the movement up to 1965. I might use certain passages as refreshers of particular moments in the movement's history, as the book does a wonderful job of summarizing and simplifying the highly-complex socio-political machinations of this period. Brilliant india ink artwork as well.

Crucial in these times

"Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --- George Santayana This graphic novel is beautifully illustrated (the artwork is all black and white), and the message is powerful in a quiet way. I wish everyone would read this book and the other two books in the series. I read this on my Kindle and had no problems with formatting. I highly recommend this look at history.

For the Read Harder Challenge.

John Lewis is an American hero and as election day drawers nearer I cannot help but think of his many sacrifices to bring the right to vote to so many Americans. This incredible book should be required reading in history class when the Civil Rights Movement is taught. The book is heartbreaking (there was so much more violence than I knew), quirky (Lewis shyly dancing with Shirley MacLaine), and inspiring (a moment between President Obama and Lewis, "Because of you John", brought me to tears).

Please everyone go out and vote tomorrow to keep this country on its long march toward a more just and equal society, so wonderfully embodied by Rep. John Lewis.

"I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool of instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it" - Lewis