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March #3
March: Book Three
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Graphic Novels & Comics (2016)Welcome to the stunning conclusion of the award-winning and best-selling MARCH trilogy. Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, joins co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today's world.
246 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2016
About the author
John Lewis
37 books874 followersJohn Robert Lewis was the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving since 1987 and was the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. He was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), playing a key role in the struggle to end segregation. He was a member of the Democratic Party and was one of the most liberal legislators.
Barack Obama honoured Lewis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and they marched hand in hand in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attack (March 7, 1965).
Barack Obama honoured Lewis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and they marched hand in hand in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attack (March 7, 1965).
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July 18, 2020
It was the evening before the inauguration, and I was looking for something to read, something that would fortify me against the dark rhetoric of soon-to-be president Trump. I decided on March 3, the final volume of Congressman John Lewis’ graphic autobiographical account of the civil rights struggle, and it turned out to be an excellent choice.
I read half of the book that night, from the Birmingham church bombing in September of ‘63 to the failure of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to seat their delegates at the convention in August of ‘64. I read of Lewis’ painstaking organizing efforts during the dangerous “Mississippi Freedom Summer,” when the brave young activists of SNCC labored to register black people to vote. Afterward, I reflected on the recent attempts to suppress the black vote with voter I.D. laws—in Wisconsin, in North Carolina, in Florida, in Texas—and I realized how vital to the health of democracy the courage of heroes like John Lewis can be.
I finished the book the next morning, waiting for the inauguration to begin. I read of “Bloody Sunday,” the attempt of civil rights activists to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights, and how it ended on a bridge in Selma when non-violent marchers were beaten by the billy clubs of Alabama state troopers, how John Lewis himself was beaten severely, suffering a concussion and other injuries. I read, too, how America’s horror at such gratuitous violence led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Soon the inauguration began, and I heard our new president speak. He spoke of “American carnage” and—although it was a different “carnage” he spoke of—I couldn’t help thinking of four little girls blown to pieces by a bomb in Birmingham, of the murdered civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, and of John Lewis himself: sprawled unconscious, bleeding from the head on the pavement of the Edmund Pettus’ Bridge.
Our new president continued to speak. He reminded us that “whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms.” I thought again of the black voters of Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas, and of young black men dead by police violence on the streets of Ferguson, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Then I thought of the recent confirmation hearings of Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, how he defended vigorously the concept of voter I.D. laws, and I began to pray that what our president said about our freedoms may hold true, that it may continue to be true.
Amid the uncertainty of this new era, there is one thing of which I am certain: if we wish to preserve--or to gain--those “glorious freedoms" for all, we must follow the heroic example of Congressman John Lewis and people like him. Reading the three volumes of this excellent autobiography is a very good place to start.
July 21, 2020
March, Book Three, masterfully completes the trilogy, but perhaps because of its awards and popularity and its timeliness, maybe they will just go on with the project. And now that Senator Lewis has passed, maybe a companion volume at least can happen. These three volumes represent 7 years of work, well spent for historians and comics lovers and tose of us committed to racial justice. So put this series on your list.
March, designed maybe primarily for teens, for a new generation of activists, as background to the present, and Black Lives Matter, through yet another spate of white cops killing black kids, is a must read. To those, like me, who lived through the sixties, it is a chance to revisit the events of yesterday in the light of the events of today. The series is important, a comics trip back to (RIP, July 2020) Senator John Lewis’s personal experiences with the civil rights movement here in the U.S.. Is this just churning up old soil, digging at a scab that seemed to heal a long time ago? Do you think racism is dead, something we took care of back then? Well, look at the black kids being killed on the streets today and see if we don’t need to revisit the Civil Rights movement of the twentieth century.
A couple weeks ago several students in my class chose to read the first volume of this series, after we had all read All American Boys, which is also a novel about police brutality, and they remarked to me that while they had known of some of the brutality that had taken place then, some of the specifics of this history was shocking to them. The first volume of March is kind of background, focusing on Lewis’s early life as it emerges into activism; the second is almost full blown, non-stop action, just horrifyingly engaging, but this third volume for me rises even further to greatness, extending the scope of the action and deepening the effect of the story with excerpts from various speeches and sermons and testimonies from the time.
Senator Lewis has written much of his experiences in other formats. It was his aide, Andrew Aydin, who adapted his story, working with amazing graphic novelist Nate Powell to create what has already become a staple in school curricula. It is--you may be surprised to hear--not a cleaned up, Golden Book version of the events for the kiddies. The language, the actual events, are not sugar-coated. Terrible things happened in this country, and they are shared here. The fact that some terrible things are happening to black people still in this country makes this book important.
Some important revelations that counter some of the reported history:
*A lot of people think of the Kennedys and LBJ as important white civil rights leaders, but as Lewis reminds us, they had to be educated and pushed to act, they were initially opposed to civil rights legislation.
*Sometimes you get the feeling from recent civil rights history that the Reverend Martin Luther King just sort of led a unified charge. Nope, he and Malcolm X battled on some issues, SNCC (The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that Lewis led) battled with King and people they viewed as more centrist, finally, like Lewis himself. Some people were sick of non-violence. They wanted a war.
*You might know Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls, a documentary about the 4 little girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing, on Youth Day, when 21 other children were injured. What you may know is that that was one moment that shifted the tide in attitudes about racial relations and equity in those days. And there had been many people killed and many churches bombed before this one bombing. But white America began to hesitate in their opposition to racial equality when they saw children deliberately being killed. . . and in this historic black church. And why did the bombings take place? Among other things, to resist black people voting or even being registered to vote. 2% of African Americans eligible to vote were actually allowed to be registered to vote in Mississippi in 1963. And why do you guess that was? And does that resonate with anything you hear today about the suppression of voter registration among the poor and people of color? What you may not know is that after the deaths of those 4 little girls, Lewis reminds us, white teens roamed the streets beating up and shooting black folks in celebration of those deaths. And, in one anecdote I had forgotten, he relates the story of two KKK Eagle Scout teens who gunned down a black kid on the streets of Birmingham just because they had been riled up by the rally. Most of those crimes were never prosecuted; it took decades for even one of the murderers to come to trial.
If any of this interests you, it might be useful to order from your library Eyes on the Prize, the celebrated documentary series. Invaluable. Or view Lee’s 4 Little Girls. Or read some of Taylor Branch’s works on those days.
What many whites today know about civil rights history are white guy hero books like To Kill a Mockingbird, which I do think is great, but still, from a white perspective. We know MLK’s I have a Dream speech, which is great, too, yes. But we celebrate Rosa Parks as a little old lady who was too tired to sit in the back of the bus, rather than see her as the trained and passionate activist she was.
This book touched a nerve for me. I think there are more elaborate stories to read in Lewis’s own work and in other great civil rights histories. But this series, designed for young people and really all ages, finally, will work to help us/young people have discussions about Black Lives Matter and police brutality and racism and poverty. I had given 4 stars to the first two books in the series, but this one sparked something more in me. It suffers from having to tell too much history in too short a time; I am sure it proved a challenge to subtle Powell, too, who would not ordinarily use so many words in his own work, but you can see they just had to include excerpts from the great speeches of the time, all the rich and outraged and grieving language just has to be present, from Fannie Lou Hamer, from Dr. King, from Lewis himself. These speeches and sermons compose a very moving reflection on the past and present.
Today, as I write, there's another cop killing a kid in Tulsa, and in Charlotte. And Minneapolis. More than 120 this year already. It reminds me of Alan Moore’s American gothic horror tour of the U.S. in the sixties in Swamp Thing. Where’s the next stop, folks? Spin the dial . . . what fresh hell will we experience? And I live in Chicago, which is a different but related story. Read this series. It might be your way--or your kids's way--into the issues of today. Highly recommend.
March, designed maybe primarily for teens, for a new generation of activists, as background to the present, and Black Lives Matter, through yet another spate of white cops killing black kids, is a must read. To those, like me, who lived through the sixties, it is a chance to revisit the events of yesterday in the light of the events of today. The series is important, a comics trip back to (RIP, July 2020) Senator John Lewis’s personal experiences with the civil rights movement here in the U.S.. Is this just churning up old soil, digging at a scab that seemed to heal a long time ago? Do you think racism is dead, something we took care of back then? Well, look at the black kids being killed on the streets today and see if we don’t need to revisit the Civil Rights movement of the twentieth century.
A couple weeks ago several students in my class chose to read the first volume of this series, after we had all read All American Boys, which is also a novel about police brutality, and they remarked to me that while they had known of some of the brutality that had taken place then, some of the specifics of this history was shocking to them. The first volume of March is kind of background, focusing on Lewis’s early life as it emerges into activism; the second is almost full blown, non-stop action, just horrifyingly engaging, but this third volume for me rises even further to greatness, extending the scope of the action and deepening the effect of the story with excerpts from various speeches and sermons and testimonies from the time.
Senator Lewis has written much of his experiences in other formats. It was his aide, Andrew Aydin, who adapted his story, working with amazing graphic novelist Nate Powell to create what has already become a staple in school curricula. It is--you may be surprised to hear--not a cleaned up, Golden Book version of the events for the kiddies. The language, the actual events, are not sugar-coated. Terrible things happened in this country, and they are shared here. The fact that some terrible things are happening to black people still in this country makes this book important.
Some important revelations that counter some of the reported history:
*A lot of people think of the Kennedys and LBJ as important white civil rights leaders, but as Lewis reminds us, they had to be educated and pushed to act, they were initially opposed to civil rights legislation.
*Sometimes you get the feeling from recent civil rights history that the Reverend Martin Luther King just sort of led a unified charge. Nope, he and Malcolm X battled on some issues, SNCC (The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that Lewis led) battled with King and people they viewed as more centrist, finally, like Lewis himself. Some people were sick of non-violence. They wanted a war.
*You might know Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls, a documentary about the 4 little girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing, on Youth Day, when 21 other children were injured. What you may know is that that was one moment that shifted the tide in attitudes about racial relations and equity in those days. And there had been many people killed and many churches bombed before this one bombing. But white America began to hesitate in their opposition to racial equality when they saw children deliberately being killed. . . and in this historic black church. And why did the bombings take place? Among other things, to resist black people voting or even being registered to vote. 2% of African Americans eligible to vote were actually allowed to be registered to vote in Mississippi in 1963. And why do you guess that was? And does that resonate with anything you hear today about the suppression of voter registration among the poor and people of color? What you may not know is that after the deaths of those 4 little girls, Lewis reminds us, white teens roamed the streets beating up and shooting black folks in celebration of those deaths. And, in one anecdote I had forgotten, he relates the story of two KKK Eagle Scout teens who gunned down a black kid on the streets of Birmingham just because they had been riled up by the rally. Most of those crimes were never prosecuted; it took decades for even one of the murderers to come to trial.
If any of this interests you, it might be useful to order from your library Eyes on the Prize, the celebrated documentary series. Invaluable. Or view Lee’s 4 Little Girls. Or read some of Taylor Branch’s works on those days.
What many whites today know about civil rights history are white guy hero books like To Kill a Mockingbird, which I do think is great, but still, from a white perspective. We know MLK’s I have a Dream speech, which is great, too, yes. But we celebrate Rosa Parks as a little old lady who was too tired to sit in the back of the bus, rather than see her as the trained and passionate activist she was.
This book touched a nerve for me. I think there are more elaborate stories to read in Lewis’s own work and in other great civil rights histories. But this series, designed for young people and really all ages, finally, will work to help us/young people have discussions about Black Lives Matter and police brutality and racism and poverty. I had given 4 stars to the first two books in the series, but this one sparked something more in me. It suffers from having to tell too much history in too short a time; I am sure it proved a challenge to subtle Powell, too, who would not ordinarily use so many words in his own work, but you can see they just had to include excerpts from the great speeches of the time, all the rich and outraged and grieving language just has to be present, from Fannie Lou Hamer, from Dr. King, from Lewis himself. These speeches and sermons compose a very moving reflection on the past and present.
Today, as I write, there's another cop killing a kid in Tulsa, and in Charlotte. And Minneapolis. More than 120 this year already. It reminds me of Alan Moore’s American gothic horror tour of the U.S. in the sixties in Swamp Thing. Where’s the next stop, folks? Spin the dial . . . what fresh hell will we experience? And I live in Chicago, which is a different but related story. Read this series. It might be your way--or your kids's way--into the issues of today. Highly recommend.
March 18, 2017
"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana
"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun
In The March Trilogy, John Lewis has given us the gift of his memory and his experience. It is an invaluable, accessible record of the struggle for civil rights, and especially the right to vote, in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. 1958-1965. The least I could do is read it.
"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun
In The March Trilogy, John Lewis has given us the gift of his memory and his experience. It is an invaluable, accessible record of the struggle for civil rights, and especially the right to vote, in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. 1958-1965. The least I could do is read it.
August 14, 2017
"How could our quest for simple human dignity spawn such evil?"
This was such a hard one to read. I had to put the book down for a while. It begins with the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. People are beaten with sticks and fists. Civil Rights workers are killed. And the faces of the white crowds watching the protesters! Such hatred! Such anger! I thought surely I would never see such venomous faces again.
I was wrong.
It seems it never, never goes away. People should have never had to fight for the right to vote, and now it seems they may need to do it all over again.
Thankfully there is this trilogy by John Lewis. It serves as both a memoir, and a guidebook on how to bring about social change; a glimpse at a dark time in our history, and a reminder that there are always those waiting for a chance to take away all that has been achieved.
"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
Senator Cory Booker and Representative John Lewis on the steps of the Capitol Building.
This was such a hard one to read. I had to put the book down for a while. It begins with the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. People are beaten with sticks and fists. Civil Rights workers are killed. And the faces of the white crowds watching the protesters! Such hatred! Such anger! I thought surely I would never see such venomous faces again.
I was wrong.
It seems it never, never goes away. People should have never had to fight for the right to vote, and now it seems they may need to do it all over again.
Thankfully there is this trilogy by John Lewis. It serves as both a memoir, and a guidebook on how to bring about social change; a glimpse at a dark time in our history, and a reminder that there are always those waiting for a chance to take away all that has been achieved.
"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
Senator Cory Booker and Representative John Lewis on the steps of the Capitol Building.
February 6, 2017
"But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement, which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it's not just Negros, but really it's all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice… and we shall overcome." -Lyndon B. Johnson
February 10, 2017
This was the last book I read in 2016, and it was an excellent way to end my reading year.
The March books are comics about Congressman John Lewis' experiences during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. This third volume opens with the September 1963 bombing of an African-American baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four girls.
That opening violence shows how bloody the struggle for Civil Rights would become. In this final volume of March, Lewis and other activists are focused on getting blacks registered to vote in the summer of 1964, nicknamed Freedom Summer. In theory, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote, but back then, Southern police and city officials would prevent black people from registering. Officials would create more bureaucratic obstacles, such as poll taxes, "literacy tests" and other voting restrictions. Blacks were harassed, beaten, and some even lost their jobs if they tried to register.
During that Freedom Summer, three volunteers were abducted and killed by white supremacists for their efforts. Countless others were beaten and threatened. Civil Rights organizers urged President Lyndon Johnson to support a Voting Rights Acts, but it took more than a year of protests and violence before LBJ signed it into law in August 1965. (The U.S. Supreme Court gutted it in 2013, but that's another sad story.)
The last section of this book focuses on the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965. While reading those pages, I appreciated why Lewis and his co-authors chose to tell this story in comic form, because it was powerful to see the illustrations of what the non-violent marchers endured, and to see them facing off against police who lined up to beat them down. While leading the march, Lewis was so badly beaten that he spent several days in the hospital.
One of the reasons this book is such an emotional read is that it includes Lewis' experience at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration in January 2009. One section that made this reader get misty-eyed was when Obama stopped to hug and greet Lewis, and the president handed him a note saying, "Because of you, John."
I highly recommend all three volumes of March. It's an amazing work of social history.
Favorite Quotes
"When I got home to Atlanta... I spent the day alone in my apartment, watching President Kennedy's funeral. I kept thinking about Medgar Evers and the little girls in Birmingham. Now, the president who represented so much hope for so many people had been murdered. For so many months I'd kept my emotions bottled up to be strong for those counting on me to lead, but there I was, alone in the dark with it all."
"Will the government, at last, take action on the intimidations, threats, shootings, and illegal arrests, searches, and seizures that are a direct result of voter registration activities? Registering to vote is an act of commitment to the American ideal. It is patriotic. The federal government must decide whether it wants to let Southern negroes register. It must make that choice this summer — or make us all witnesses to the lynching of democracy."
— John Lewis, speaking at the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention, April 1964
"In our country we have some real evil, and the attempt to do something about it involves enormous effort, and therefore tremendous risks."
— Bob Moses, speaking to volunteers after three Civil Rights activists went missing in Mississippi; the three volunteers had been killed by the KKK
"If you value your party, if you value your country, if you value the democratic process, then you must recognize the [Mississippi] Freedom Party delegation, for it is in these saints in ordinary life that the true spirit of democracy finds its most profound and abiding expression. For all the disenfranchised millions of this earth — whether they be in Mississippi or Alabama, behind the Iron Curtain, floundering in the mire of South Africa apartheid or freedom-seeking persons in Cuba who have now gone three years without an election — recognition of the Freedom Party would say to them that somewhere in the world is a nation that cares about justice."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, advocating on behalf of delegates at the 1964 Democratic National Convention
"We came to bring our morality to politics, not politics to our morality."
"Malcolm talked about the need to shift our focus from race to class, both among one another and between ourselves and the white community. He said he believed that was the root of our problems, not just in America, but all over the world. Malcolm was saying, in effect, that it is a struggle for the poor — for those who have been left out and left behind — and that it transcends race."
— John Lewis recounting a discussion with Malcolm X, when the two had a surprise meeting while visiting Africa. It was the last time Lewis saw Malcolm alive.
"There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem ... It is the effort of American negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it's not just negroes, but really it's all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice — and we shall overcome."
— President Lyndon Johnson
The March books are comics about Congressman John Lewis' experiences during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. This third volume opens with the September 1963 bombing of an African-American baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four girls.
That opening violence shows how bloody the struggle for Civil Rights would become. In this final volume of March, Lewis and other activists are focused on getting blacks registered to vote in the summer of 1964, nicknamed Freedom Summer. In theory, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote, but back then, Southern police and city officials would prevent black people from registering. Officials would create more bureaucratic obstacles, such as poll taxes, "literacy tests" and other voting restrictions. Blacks were harassed, beaten, and some even lost their jobs if they tried to register.
During that Freedom Summer, three volunteers were abducted and killed by white supremacists for their efforts. Countless others were beaten and threatened. Civil Rights organizers urged President Lyndon Johnson to support a Voting Rights Acts, but it took more than a year of protests and violence before LBJ signed it into law in August 1965. (The U.S. Supreme Court gutted it in 2013, but that's another sad story.)
The last section of this book focuses on the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965. While reading those pages, I appreciated why Lewis and his co-authors chose to tell this story in comic form, because it was powerful to see the illustrations of what the non-violent marchers endured, and to see them facing off against police who lined up to beat them down. While leading the march, Lewis was so badly beaten that he spent several days in the hospital.
One of the reasons this book is such an emotional read is that it includes Lewis' experience at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration in January 2009. One section that made this reader get misty-eyed was when Obama stopped to hug and greet Lewis, and the president handed him a note saying, "Because of you, John."
I highly recommend all three volumes of March. It's an amazing work of social history.
Favorite Quotes
"When I got home to Atlanta... I spent the day alone in my apartment, watching President Kennedy's funeral. I kept thinking about Medgar Evers and the little girls in Birmingham. Now, the president who represented so much hope for so many people had been murdered. For so many months I'd kept my emotions bottled up to be strong for those counting on me to lead, but there I was, alone in the dark with it all."
"Will the government, at last, take action on the intimidations, threats, shootings, and illegal arrests, searches, and seizures that are a direct result of voter registration activities? Registering to vote is an act of commitment to the American ideal. It is patriotic. The federal government must decide whether it wants to let Southern negroes register. It must make that choice this summer — or make us all witnesses to the lynching of democracy."
— John Lewis, speaking at the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention, April 1964
"In our country we have some real evil, and the attempt to do something about it involves enormous effort, and therefore tremendous risks."
— Bob Moses, speaking to volunteers after three Civil Rights activists went missing in Mississippi; the three volunteers had been killed by the KKK
"If you value your party, if you value your country, if you value the democratic process, then you must recognize the [Mississippi] Freedom Party delegation, for it is in these saints in ordinary life that the true spirit of democracy finds its most profound and abiding expression. For all the disenfranchised millions of this earth — whether they be in Mississippi or Alabama, behind the Iron Curtain, floundering in the mire of South Africa apartheid or freedom-seeking persons in Cuba who have now gone three years without an election — recognition of the Freedom Party would say to them that somewhere in the world is a nation that cares about justice."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, advocating on behalf of delegates at the 1964 Democratic National Convention
"We came to bring our morality to politics, not politics to our morality."
"Malcolm talked about the need to shift our focus from race to class, both among one another and between ourselves and the white community. He said he believed that was the root of our problems, not just in America, but all over the world. Malcolm was saying, in effect, that it is a struggle for the poor — for those who have been left out and left behind — and that it transcends race."
— John Lewis recounting a discussion with Malcolm X, when the two had a surprise meeting while visiting Africa. It was the last time Lewis saw Malcolm alive.
"There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem ... It is the effort of American negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it's not just negroes, but really it's all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice — and we shall overcome."
— President Lyndon Johnson
February 28, 2017
This story is absolutely 5 stars, but the storytelling felt a little sloppy in this volume. I had to check that I hadn't skipped a page several times because information would be introduced and suddenly dropped. I can understand that there are many tidbits Lewis would want to include though, and memoirs aren't as structured as fiction, but the first two volumes felt smoother to me.
Regardless, this is a comic about a real life super hero and I am so thankful it exists. I wish I'd had these books in high school. I wish every American would read them.
Regardless, this is a comic about a real life super hero and I am so thankful it exists. I wish I'd had these books in high school. I wish every American would read them.
October 16, 2018
Wow, this series is so powerful. I honestly can't imagine facing down so much violence. The story in these pages is about standing up to a system and saying we are part of this country and we demand to be included. This is one of the most powerful stories I have seen told. This series is unbelievable.
This last story is about the march over the Bridge from Selma to Montgomery. I simply can't believe the police and the brutality that was acted upon the people. I don't understand why the federal government didn't step in sooner. I don't understand wanting to keep people from voting because of someone's skin.
This has to be one of the greatest movements in history. A whole people stood up to the oppressive majority and with non-violence, demanded what was due to them. We can't go backwards. We can't do this all over again. We are stronger if we honor our differences. Our nation is stronger when everyone has a chance. Fighting each other only weakens us. I just wish the hate could be transformed and people could let go of it.
I simply can't believe this happened in American, the home of the free. It does not make sense. We fight so hard for freedom and we are this beacon in the world of hope and freedom, so how can we deny our own citizens freedom?
I hope this never has to repeat itself for any people. I hope we can learn from these stories. I also hope this series will last and stick around for each generation to read and learn from. Some of the revisionist history out there is pretty scary and we need truthful accounts of what really happened.
This book is incredible and John Lewis was responsible for making the march happen. He is lucky to be alive after the beating he took for trying to register people to vote. I really can't explain the power in these pages and the people who achieved this outcome. I know we have farther to go. The poor are left behind in our country.
I didn't live through this history and it was not taught in schools, so I did not learn about it. I'm very enriched by reading this series and I hope everyone will give this important piece of history a read. It reads well and it tells a good story.
This last story is about the march over the Bridge from Selma to Montgomery. I simply can't believe the police and the brutality that was acted upon the people. I don't understand why the federal government didn't step in sooner. I don't understand wanting to keep people from voting because of someone's skin.
This has to be one of the greatest movements in history. A whole people stood up to the oppressive majority and with non-violence, demanded what was due to them. We can't go backwards. We can't do this all over again. We are stronger if we honor our differences. Our nation is stronger when everyone has a chance. Fighting each other only weakens us. I just wish the hate could be transformed and people could let go of it.
I simply can't believe this happened in American, the home of the free. It does not make sense. We fight so hard for freedom and we are this beacon in the world of hope and freedom, so how can we deny our own citizens freedom?
I hope this never has to repeat itself for any people. I hope we can learn from these stories. I also hope this series will last and stick around for each generation to read and learn from. Some of the revisionist history out there is pretty scary and we need truthful accounts of what really happened.
This book is incredible and John Lewis was responsible for making the march happen. He is lucky to be alive after the beating he took for trying to register people to vote. I really can't explain the power in these pages and the people who achieved this outcome. I know we have farther to go. The poor are left behind in our country.
I didn't live through this history and it was not taught in schools, so I did not learn about it. I'm very enriched by reading this series and I hope everyone will give this important piece of history a read. It reads well and it tells a good story.
Read
November 30, 2016I have been reading through all the National Book nominees for Young People’s Literature, and March, Book 3 is a worthy, stunning graphic novel that everyone should read. The March series begins with a scene in John Lewis’ congressional office, on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration. Through flashbacks, we get a most personal look into Mr. Lewis’ history with the civil rights movement and all that he has endured fighting for equal rights and equal voting opportunities. How grateful I am that he told his story. The graphic novel medium, and in particular Nate Powell’s stunning art, works perfectly to detail the brutal and heartbreaking work of the many people fighting for the most basic of human rights. March, Book 3 is the conclusion of the series, but John Lewis remains a larger-than-life political activist and Georgia Congressman whose wisdom will endure through countless generations. “We are one people, one family, one house–the American house,” he recently wrote on Twitter. “We must learn to live together as brother & sister or we will perish as fools.”
— Karina Glaser
from The Best Books We Read In October 2016: http://bookriot.com/2016/10/31/riot-r...
— Karina Glaser
from The Best Books We Read In October 2016: http://bookriot.com/2016/10/31/riot-r...
August 28, 2016
This graphic novel series is so, so, so good. I wish Rep. John Lewis would write more of them
December 26, 2018
Books 1 and 2 were 5 star reads for me. Book 3 took it to another level! Spectacular!! A very well done series.
5+ Stars
Read the dead tree version.
5+ Stars
Read the dead tree version.
January 15, 2020
The grand finale of the March Trilogy by John Lewis. My heart is full. But let's get to the things that March: Book Three taught me:
1) The tension between Martin Luther King and the younger leaders of the movement thickens as the Baptists Church in Birmingham was bombed in September 1963 and four little children were murdered. Diane Nash and John Lewis (SNCC) pleaded for an all-out revolution, because what's enough is enough. MLK (SCLC) was against this direct approach, and so the students were off on their own again. They decided to shift their focus to Selma, a city deep in the Alabama Black Belt.
2) Black activists in Selma had fought long and hard to get Black voters to register, however they were met with humiliating responses, e.g. in many places African Americans were asked to count the amount of jelly beans in a jar, or the amount of bubbles in a bar of soap, to prove that they are literate. All of their efforts were rejected.
3) October 7, 1963 soon became known as Freedom Day – in Dallas County you could only register to vote on the first and third mondays of the month, so at those days SNCC decided to stage their biggest mobilizations. Even my baby boy, James Baldwin, came with his brother to show his support. <3
4) When the registration of Black voters was met more and more with violence, SNCC with the help of Al Loewenstein, a white activist, staged a mock election in Mississippi at the same time as the actual state-wide elections. This Freedom Vote would give Black women and men a sense of what is was like to actually vote, and dramatize the exclusion of African Americans from the electoral process – more than 80.000 people registered to vote in the mock election. <3
5) In Mississippi that summer they suffered more than 1000 arrests, 80 beatings, 35 shootings, 35 church bombings and 30 bombings from white police officers, white supremacists and the white moderate. I am amazed that this period in time isn't know as a fucking Civil War. It's so sickening!
6) After the mock election in 1964, they launched the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the all-white official party. They selected Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine and Victoria Gray to run for Congress, and a slate of delegates to represent Mississippi at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. President Johnson refused to acknowledge the MFDP and removed their chairs from the convention hall.
7) Thus followed a time of disillusionment regards to the Civil Rights Movement and SNCC was falling apart. More and more activist preached a more violent approach. When Belafonte invited a delegation from SNCC to accompany him on a three-week trip to Africa to speak to young people and share their ideas, John Lewis jumped at the chance. In Kenya he met Malcolm X, who had earlier that year split with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm praised his work and said that he shouldn't give up. It was the last time John saw Malcolm alive. <3
8) On December 10, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, being 35 years of age, he was the youngest man to ever receive the award. John was overjoyed for King, but most of his SNCC colleagues resented him. Within SNCC there were strong feelings that they had done the hard and necessary work laying the foundation – but now Dr. King and SCLC would reap the fruits.
9) In 1965, they undertook yet another voter registration program in Selma, Alabama in order to force President Johnson to a full Voting Rights Act. With the assistance of MLK and SCLC they organized many marches, one of them being the historic march of Black school teachers. Teachers had never marched before, so this meant that thousands of students would be on the streets marching, if a hundred teachers were jailed, so the police couldn't do anything. It was a powerful and intelligent stroke.
10) After Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed, the idea of a Selma-Montgomery march was born. On March 7, 1965, acting on Bevel's plan, Hosea Williams of the SCLC and John Lewis led a march of 600 people to walk the 87 km from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. Only six blocks into the march, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers and local law enforcement attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, rubber tubes wrapped in barbed wire, and bull whips. John Lewis thought he was going to die on that bridge, he was knocked unconscious and then, fortunately, dragged to safety.
11) The national broadcast of the news footage of lawmen attacking unresisting marchers' seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote provoked a national response, as had scenes from Birmingham two years earlier. The marchers were able to obtain a court order permitting them to make the march without incident two weeks later.
12) So they marched a second time on March 9, under the leadership of MLK. It turned out that MLK made an agreement with the federal officials to march only to the bridge, as a statement, and then turn back to await the hearing. Dr. King didn't tell any of the marchers beforehand, it became known as Turnaround Tuesday.
13) Eight days after the first march, but before the final march, President Johnson delivered a television address to support the voting rights bill he had sent to Congress. John Lewis says that the speech the President gave that day, was one of the most moving speeches he ever heard an American President give on Civil Rights. Johnson said that there is no Negro problem, there is only an American problem, that their cause must be everyone's cause, and then, giving tribute to the hardships of the activists, he cried out: And we shall overcome. <3 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6 that year. That day was the end of a long road.
14) After Barack Obama's inauguration (in 2009) John Lewis with tears of happiness in his eyes congratulated him and fell into his arms. Obama gave him a postcard on which four simple words were written: Because of you, John. <3
When John Lewis came home on January 20, 2009 he had 28 voice mails on his device. One of them being from Ted Kennedy, crying and telling him that he couldn't sleep. That he was thinking of him, and of Martin, thinking about the years of work, the bloodshed... the people who didn't live to see this day. And on that evening John Lewis cried, too. And I'm crying right now.
Because of you, John.
Thank you.
1) The tension between Martin Luther King and the younger leaders of the movement thickens as the Baptists Church in Birmingham was bombed in September 1963 and four little children were murdered. Diane Nash and John Lewis (SNCC) pleaded for an all-out revolution, because what's enough is enough. MLK (SCLC) was against this direct approach, and so the students were off on their own again. They decided to shift their focus to Selma, a city deep in the Alabama Black Belt.
2) Black activists in Selma had fought long and hard to get Black voters to register, however they were met with humiliating responses, e.g. in many places African Americans were asked to count the amount of jelly beans in a jar, or the amount of bubbles in a bar of soap, to prove that they are literate. All of their efforts were rejected.
3) October 7, 1963 soon became known as Freedom Day – in Dallas County you could only register to vote on the first and third mondays of the month, so at those days SNCC decided to stage their biggest mobilizations. Even my baby boy, James Baldwin, came with his brother to show his support. <3
4) When the registration of Black voters was met more and more with violence, SNCC with the help of Al Loewenstein, a white activist, staged a mock election in Mississippi at the same time as the actual state-wide elections. This Freedom Vote would give Black women and men a sense of what is was like to actually vote, and dramatize the exclusion of African Americans from the electoral process – more than 80.000 people registered to vote in the mock election. <3
5) In Mississippi that summer they suffered more than 1000 arrests, 80 beatings, 35 shootings, 35 church bombings and 30 bombings from white police officers, white supremacists and the white moderate. I am amazed that this period in time isn't know as a fucking Civil War. It's so sickening!
6) After the mock election in 1964, they launched the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the all-white official party. They selected Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine and Victoria Gray to run for Congress, and a slate of delegates to represent Mississippi at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. President Johnson refused to acknowledge the MFDP and removed their chairs from the convention hall.
7) Thus followed a time of disillusionment regards to the Civil Rights Movement and SNCC was falling apart. More and more activist preached a more violent approach. When Belafonte invited a delegation from SNCC to accompany him on a three-week trip to Africa to speak to young people and share their ideas, John Lewis jumped at the chance. In Kenya he met Malcolm X, who had earlier that year split with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm praised his work and said that he shouldn't give up. It was the last time John saw Malcolm alive. <3
8) On December 10, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, being 35 years of age, he was the youngest man to ever receive the award. John was overjoyed for King, but most of his SNCC colleagues resented him. Within SNCC there were strong feelings that they had done the hard and necessary work laying the foundation – but now Dr. King and SCLC would reap the fruits.
9) In 1965, they undertook yet another voter registration program in Selma, Alabama in order to force President Johnson to a full Voting Rights Act. With the assistance of MLK and SCLC they organized many marches, one of them being the historic march of Black school teachers. Teachers had never marched before, so this meant that thousands of students would be on the streets marching, if a hundred teachers were jailed, so the police couldn't do anything. It was a powerful and intelligent stroke.
10) After Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed, the idea of a Selma-Montgomery march was born. On March 7, 1965, acting on Bevel's plan, Hosea Williams of the SCLC and John Lewis led a march of 600 people to walk the 87 km from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. Only six blocks into the march, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers and local law enforcement attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, rubber tubes wrapped in barbed wire, and bull whips. John Lewis thought he was going to die on that bridge, he was knocked unconscious and then, fortunately, dragged to safety.
11) The national broadcast of the news footage of lawmen attacking unresisting marchers' seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote provoked a national response, as had scenes from Birmingham two years earlier. The marchers were able to obtain a court order permitting them to make the march without incident two weeks later.
12) So they marched a second time on March 9, under the leadership of MLK. It turned out that MLK made an agreement with the federal officials to march only to the bridge, as a statement, and then turn back to await the hearing. Dr. King didn't tell any of the marchers beforehand, it became known as Turnaround Tuesday.
13) Eight days after the first march, but before the final march, President Johnson delivered a television address to support the voting rights bill he had sent to Congress. John Lewis says that the speech the President gave that day, was one of the most moving speeches he ever heard an American President give on Civil Rights. Johnson said that there is no Negro problem, there is only an American problem, that their cause must be everyone's cause, and then, giving tribute to the hardships of the activists, he cried out: And we shall overcome. <3 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6 that year. That day was the end of a long road.
14) After Barack Obama's inauguration (in 2009) John Lewis with tears of happiness in his eyes congratulated him and fell into his arms. Obama gave him a postcard on which four simple words were written: Because of you, John. <3
When John Lewis came home on January 20, 2009 he had 28 voice mails on his device. One of them being from Ted Kennedy, crying and telling him that he couldn't sleep. That he was thinking of him, and of Martin, thinking about the years of work, the bloodshed... the people who didn't live to see this day. And on that evening John Lewis cried, too. And I'm crying right now.
Because of you, John.
Thank you.
October 6, 2016
I swear I’m not doing this to be “contrarian” or any of that bullshit, I’m just being honest. Don’t take my less-than-stellar rating to mean that I’m racist and against equal rights or think little of the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement. I know most of you aren’t that dumb but, y’know, this is Internetland, where stupidity knows no limit!
And yes, it’s disappointing that American race relations remain in the toilet even in 2016, largely thanks to an increasingly militant and out-of-control police force. I’m not going to attempt to try and go through my thoughts on police reform, Black Lives Matter, and all that noise and tie it into March here though; I’m just going to focus on this book.
The third and final volume in the March trilogy, John Lewis’ memoirs of the Civil Rights Movement, was… disappointingly quite poor. It follows the last major step in the move for equal rights when black people demanded to be allowed to register and vote in all elections, culminating in the Voting Rights Act 1965. I know, your peepers are sagging already - just think of slogging through 250 pages of this, the driest of civics lessons, like I did!
I loved the first two March books. They effortlessly combined Lewis’ personal life with the zeitgeist, fusing the two and brilliantly charting the rises and falls of this dramatic and inspiring story. You were learning history but it didn’t feel like learning. Things stagnate with the third book.
For a start it’s twice as long as the first book without good reason. This could’ve easily been half its length and been more than sufficient but I think because of the success of the first two books the creators got very indulgent and thought “The hell with succinctness, let’s wallow!”
We learn about the unfairness of Southern literacy tests which black people had to pass before registering to vote and which were rigged against their favour. We learn that whenever they tried to register to vote they faced opposition from the authorities. John Lewis met Malcolm X - and then Malcolm X died. John Lewis and others met LBJ who was kind of an old Southern racist himself but, being a politician, was also willing to change if popular opinion made him. That’s the book in a nutshell and all it had to be.
What we get instead is an abundance of repetition. It’s the same scene over and over: peaceful protest, police beating up black people, racist bureaucrats opposing black people registering, peaceful protest, police beating up black people, etc. etc. There’s also too much about internal politics between the organisations with tedious meeting after tedious meeting after tedious meeting where they say the same thing about the importance of registering to vote over and over.
It’s great that Lewis acknowledges a number of individuals who aren’t as well-known as Dr King and Rosa Parks but it’s really only interesting for those who are students of this movement. Me? I’m just an ordinary schmo who doesn’t have to sit a test at the end of all this so, y’know, good for them and Lewis but I couldn’t care less - their names went in one ear and out the… hey, look that dog’s got a puffy tail!
Maybe the point behind the tiresome repetition was to show the protestors’ stamina and determination - that this is only the tip of what they had to endure over years to be treated fairly? Again, I respect that - but it’s SUCH a bore to read! And the first two March books told us about Lewis’ life and taught us things about the Civil Rights Movement without lingering so unnecessarily.
The third book tells us next to nothing about Lewis’ life (he repeatedly protested, got repeatedly arrested, etc. just like before) and that same flashback to Obama’s inauguration is shown AGAIN to no greater effect than in the first two books. And what do we learn about the fight for equal voting rights? They had to peacefully protest, over and over and over, and got beat up and sometimes killed by the police and the racists, etc. Do we need to read the same thing again and again? No. But that’s what this book makes us do - as if it was difficult to understand the first dozen times!
Nate Powell’s black and white art is as powerful as it’s been throughout this series. Expressive, fluid, humanising, in bringing the past to life, Powell shows once again that he was the perfect choice to collaborate with John Lewis and Andrew Aydin on this project.
March is an important series and I heartily recommend it to everyone, particularly those first two volumes, but this third book is an overindulgent, dreary and long-winded finale that belabours its few points interminably. It’s informative up to a point and the art is good but the strongest emotions I felt were boredom and relief when I’d finished reading this illustrated textbook.
And yes, it’s disappointing that American race relations remain in the toilet even in 2016, largely thanks to an increasingly militant and out-of-control police force. I’m not going to attempt to try and go through my thoughts on police reform, Black Lives Matter, and all that noise and tie it into March here though; I’m just going to focus on this book.
The third and final volume in the March trilogy, John Lewis’ memoirs of the Civil Rights Movement, was… disappointingly quite poor. It follows the last major step in the move for equal rights when black people demanded to be allowed to register and vote in all elections, culminating in the Voting Rights Act 1965. I know, your peepers are sagging already - just think of slogging through 250 pages of this, the driest of civics lessons, like I did!
I loved the first two March books. They effortlessly combined Lewis’ personal life with the zeitgeist, fusing the two and brilliantly charting the rises and falls of this dramatic and inspiring story. You were learning history but it didn’t feel like learning. Things stagnate with the third book.
For a start it’s twice as long as the first book without good reason. This could’ve easily been half its length and been more than sufficient but I think because of the success of the first two books the creators got very indulgent and thought “The hell with succinctness, let’s wallow!”
We learn about the unfairness of Southern literacy tests which black people had to pass before registering to vote and which were rigged against their favour. We learn that whenever they tried to register to vote they faced opposition from the authorities. John Lewis met Malcolm X - and then Malcolm X died. John Lewis and others met LBJ who was kind of an old Southern racist himself but, being a politician, was also willing to change if popular opinion made him. That’s the book in a nutshell and all it had to be.
What we get instead is an abundance of repetition. It’s the same scene over and over: peaceful protest, police beating up black people, racist bureaucrats opposing black people registering, peaceful protest, police beating up black people, etc. etc. There’s also too much about internal politics between the organisations with tedious meeting after tedious meeting after tedious meeting where they say the same thing about the importance of registering to vote over and over.
It’s great that Lewis acknowledges a number of individuals who aren’t as well-known as Dr King and Rosa Parks but it’s really only interesting for those who are students of this movement. Me? I’m just an ordinary schmo who doesn’t have to sit a test at the end of all this so, y’know, good for them and Lewis but I couldn’t care less - their names went in one ear and out the… hey, look that dog’s got a puffy tail!
Maybe the point behind the tiresome repetition was to show the protestors’ stamina and determination - that this is only the tip of what they had to endure over years to be treated fairly? Again, I respect that - but it’s SUCH a bore to read! And the first two March books told us about Lewis’ life and taught us things about the Civil Rights Movement without lingering so unnecessarily.
The third book tells us next to nothing about Lewis’ life (he repeatedly protested, got repeatedly arrested, etc. just like before) and that same flashback to Obama’s inauguration is shown AGAIN to no greater effect than in the first two books. And what do we learn about the fight for equal voting rights? They had to peacefully protest, over and over and over, and got beat up and sometimes killed by the police and the racists, etc. Do we need to read the same thing again and again? No. But that’s what this book makes us do - as if it was difficult to understand the first dozen times!
Nate Powell’s black and white art is as powerful as it’s been throughout this series. Expressive, fluid, humanising, in bringing the past to life, Powell shows once again that he was the perfect choice to collaborate with John Lewis and Andrew Aydin on this project.
March is an important series and I heartily recommend it to everyone, particularly those first two volumes, but this third book is an overindulgent, dreary and long-winded finale that belabours its few points interminably. It’s informative up to a point and the art is good but the strongest emotions I felt were boredom and relief when I’d finished reading this illustrated textbook.
February 25, 2021
Thoughts on the series as a whole:
There’s one key takeaway above all others from this compelling, thrilling, informational, and beautifully rendered look at John Lewis’s early life and the struggle for racial equality in the United States, and it is this: Lewis and every other person who struggled alongside him fiercely, resolutely, passionately, compassionately, relentlessly, and non-violently are some of the mightiest heroes Earth has ever known.
Hyperbole? Not even a little. This should be required reading in all schools in the United States. Really, it should be required reading for everyone who lives in the US, especially for those born after the 1960s. It is absolutely terrifying how little we’ve learned over the past six decades and how eerily similar and prophetic the words of Republication New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller were when he spoke at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco and, as a chorus of boos and jeers cascaded over him, urged that the party reject extremists intent on stoking racial violence. “These are people who have nothing in common with Americanism,” he said as the boos got louder. “The Republican Party must repudiate these people.”
Sounds an awful lot like some speeches moderate Republicans made in January 2021—often to a similar, and similarly appalling and disheartening, reaction.
That Lewis and his fellow marchers achieved so much—and at such great personal cost for so many—is nothing short of a miracle. But, as these books make clear, anyone who believes that the battle was won with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act of 1965, or that systemic oppression of people of color is a thing of the past, needs to better educate themselves.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the books is the focus on the many disparate elements—and leaders—that made up the movement, including the often-times conflicting points of view espoused by some very strong personalities on how to best proceed. It’s understandable that there was no consensus on how to approach a seemingly impossible situation, particularly one that rightfully sparked so much anger amongst those fighting for equality. That Lewis, Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Maude Bellou, Diane Nash, and other leaders each found ways to engage and inspire change and that, collectively, they moved us to a better—though still far from perfect—place is an inspiring testament to the tremendous power of individuals and large groups of people united in common cause.
It’s also all the more reason to not let their sacrifice, pain, leadership, and vision be wasted as we continue to reckon with social inequality and a lack of race equity.
Please make time to read this—and if you have children, read it with them.
There’s one key takeaway above all others from this compelling, thrilling, informational, and beautifully rendered look at John Lewis’s early life and the struggle for racial equality in the United States, and it is this: Lewis and every other person who struggled alongside him fiercely, resolutely, passionately, compassionately, relentlessly, and non-violently are some of the mightiest heroes Earth has ever known.
Hyperbole? Not even a little. This should be required reading in all schools in the United States. Really, it should be required reading for everyone who lives in the US, especially for those born after the 1960s. It is absolutely terrifying how little we’ve learned over the past six decades and how eerily similar and prophetic the words of Republication New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller were when he spoke at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco and, as a chorus of boos and jeers cascaded over him, urged that the party reject extremists intent on stoking racial violence. “These are people who have nothing in common with Americanism,” he said as the boos got louder. “The Republican Party must repudiate these people.”
Sounds an awful lot like some speeches moderate Republicans made in January 2021—often to a similar, and similarly appalling and disheartening, reaction.
That Lewis and his fellow marchers achieved so much—and at such great personal cost for so many—is nothing short of a miracle. But, as these books make clear, anyone who believes that the battle was won with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act of 1965, or that systemic oppression of people of color is a thing of the past, needs to better educate themselves.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the books is the focus on the many disparate elements—and leaders—that made up the movement, including the often-times conflicting points of view espoused by some very strong personalities on how to best proceed. It’s understandable that there was no consensus on how to approach a seemingly impossible situation, particularly one that rightfully sparked so much anger amongst those fighting for equality. That Lewis, Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Maude Bellou, Diane Nash, and other leaders each found ways to engage and inspire change and that, collectively, they moved us to a better—though still far from perfect—place is an inspiring testament to the tremendous power of individuals and large groups of people united in common cause.
It’s also all the more reason to not let their sacrifice, pain, leadership, and vision be wasted as we continue to reckon with social inequality and a lack of race equity.
Please make time to read this—and if you have children, read it with them.
August 7, 2016
I teared up so many times reading this final installment of the March series. The first book felt more like necessary background information, albeit well-told and beautifully illustrated. The second was significantly more complex, and this third one doesn't let up. So much tragedy, and so much hard work and sacrifice just trying to establish the most basic of protections for African-Americans in the U.S. This series should be required reading in high schools, and for anyone with an interest in social change movements and how they work (and don't work). Rep. Lewis, Aydin, and Powell have created something truly important here.
December 2, 2018
Recently I made a vow to cut way down on my library checkouts, but when I saw the boxed set of the March trilogy at a branch near my house, I just couldn't resist. Still, immediately after I took it out, I experienced borrower's remorse. Had I bit off more than I could chew? The slipcovered set taunted me from atop a corner bookcase in my living room as I wondered if I could commit to the whole thing at once. Maybe I should just return it unread, I thought to myself, and try again some other time. In retrospect, I was an idiot, and I'm glad I didn't listen to myself. The March trilogy was incredible, up there with the very best graphic novels. It was absorbing, the art was great, and I learned a lot. I'm sure most of us feel like we know the basic outlines of the civil rights movement, but to get this exhaustive chronological account was so valuable and so... visceral. I don't think the sheer brutality and violence civil rights activists experienced has ever been captured more effectively in a book (or movie). I was astounded at the bravery of these many young men and women. It was rough to get to the end of the trilogy and remember that the Voting Rights Act these people fought so hard to attain has been subject to ongoing challenges since its inception, and may be in more jeopardy now than ever. All of us should read March, and if you have teenagers it's the perfect holiday gift for them. This trilogy can't really be called a history, because so much about it is still so vital and relevant today. Highly recommended for everyone.
April 21, 2017
"We MUST have the right to VOTE. We MUST have EQUAL PROTECTION under the law, and an END to POLICE BRUTALITY."
Not much has changed since 1965, when blacks (and some progressive whites) marched all over the south, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Speeches were made, laws were passed, but what history books usually neglect to mention is the level of brutality on nonviolent protesters. I lost track of how many times John Lewis was attacked and arrested. He was finally hospitalized with a head injury and was able to march only under doctor's supervision. But he had it better than most.
The real shockers were the unlawful arrests and detainments, the beatings, the law-breaking law enforcers, the abuse story of Fannie Lou Hamer, and the three young men, two white and one black, whose disappearance was gruesomely revealed. This happened in America barely fifty years ago! And so little has changed.
December 8, 2016
So this is the book that won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2016. And it is a winner in every sense. The trilogy together gets under one’s skin. It has very little black/white discussion about it, which is exactly as it should be. The marches in Alabama and Mississippi were not so much about race as about human rights.
First off, kudos to John Lewis for lasting so long in the midst of such outrageous attacks on both his person and on his humanity. His personality must have just the right amount of tamped-down rage to light a spark but not start a fist-fight. How the authors (including the informative and evocative drawings by Nate Powell, and the dialog boxes by Andrew Aydin) decided what to focus on, what to emphasize, in this telling is what I admired so much.
There was division amongst the groups raising consciousness among black people in the south, and we see that. There were egos involved in who was leading by what method, e.g., Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Stokley Carmichael, Jim Forman, Fannie Lou Hammer, James Bevel. There was real ugliness in the behaviors of resistant white folks, even mothers with children, against peaceful black marchers demanding their lawful rights. There were murders and beatings and unlawful detentions by police and state law enforcement officials—the people we pay to protect us—with no state or federal oversight for years, despite direct pleas from demonstrators.
Lewis had a front-row seat to all that was going on in the south and in Washington. He was head of Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee and as the youngest of the “Big Six,” representatives of the most impactful civil rights organizations, he met with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Lewis has a story to tell, and in this collaboration with two younger men, shows us how momentous his contribution.
One thing that struck me is how much learning readers experience about how movements of resistance operate. Should we ever need to use nonviolent protest to preserve our rights as citizens (against a government or corporation acting unlawfully) there is much here to glean. How to prepare for pushback and what to expect, how to notify and organize the populace who may be supportive, and how to preserve unity among groups or ideas in the face of divisiveness. How to keep the economic, political, and social pressure on those we resist against, never giving them a peaceful nights' sleep.
Get this one if you have kids. This is worthy. Reviews of Books 1 & 2.
First off, kudos to John Lewis for lasting so long in the midst of such outrageous attacks on both his person and on his humanity. His personality must have just the right amount of tamped-down rage to light a spark but not start a fist-fight. How the authors (including the informative and evocative drawings by Nate Powell, and the dialog boxes by Andrew Aydin) decided what to focus on, what to emphasize, in this telling is what I admired so much.
There was division amongst the groups raising consciousness among black people in the south, and we see that. There were egos involved in who was leading by what method, e.g., Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Stokley Carmichael, Jim Forman, Fannie Lou Hammer, James Bevel. There was real ugliness in the behaviors of resistant white folks, even mothers with children, against peaceful black marchers demanding their lawful rights. There were murders and beatings and unlawful detentions by police and state law enforcement officials—the people we pay to protect us—with no state or federal oversight for years, despite direct pleas from demonstrators.
Lewis had a front-row seat to all that was going on in the south and in Washington. He was head of Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee and as the youngest of the “Big Six,” representatives of the most impactful civil rights organizations, he met with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Lewis has a story to tell, and in this collaboration with two younger men, shows us how momentous his contribution.
One thing that struck me is how much learning readers experience about how movements of resistance operate. Should we ever need to use nonviolent protest to preserve our rights as citizens (against a government or corporation acting unlawfully) there is much here to glean. How to prepare for pushback and what to expect, how to notify and organize the populace who may be supportive, and how to preserve unity among groups or ideas in the face of divisiveness. How to keep the economic, political, and social pressure on those we resist against, never giving them a peaceful nights' sleep.
Get this one if you have kids. This is worthy. Reviews of Books 1 & 2.
June 29, 2018
Most of this volume encompasses the events in Selma, Alabama, that led to legislation to enforce an amendment of the Constitution. Let that sink in as to why the legislation was necessary. Why it could be achieved only after much bloodshed is one of those sad, (almost) unanswerable, questions.
I stopped in anger at the scene of police brutality toward two volunteers trying to give drinking water to those hoping to register to vote standing in line all day under the hot Alabama sun. (It also hit too close to current events in that just the other day someone was arrested trying to bring toys to imprisoned children of asylum seekers.) I would love to say that was the only incident I stopped at in anger or sadness. I would love to say that incident was the absolute worst of all the events that John Lewis and others experienced, but that would be far from the truth. What a life he has led—and survived.
I stopped in anger at the scene of police brutality toward two volunteers trying to give drinking water to those hoping to register to vote standing in line all day under the hot Alabama sun. (It also hit too close to current events in that just the other day someone was arrested trying to bring toys to imprisoned children of asylum seekers.) I would love to say that was the only incident I stopped at in anger or sadness. I would love to say that incident was the absolute worst of all the events that John Lewis and others experienced, but that would be far from the truth. What a life he has led—and survived.
February 6, 2017
What can I say? A 5-star trifecta for the trilogy!
I don't generally discuss politics here (unless it's the governing of a fantasy land!!)....
But it adds context to Lewis' stand on Trump, and his refusal to attend the inauguration. And I applaud him for staying true to himself despite tremendous pressures to bend.
This should be required reading for all ages/races/classes everywhere.
I don't generally discuss politics here (unless it's the governing of a fantasy land!!)....
But it adds context to Lewis' stand on Trump, and his refusal to attend the inauguration. And I applaud him for staying true to himself despite tremendous pressures to bend.
This should be required reading for all ages/races/classes everywhere.
April 4, 2017
Not smoothly written, but this series of graphic novels is a remarkable document of an immense courage and persistence of fighters for civil rights. Especially hard to read now, when white nationalists and racists are gaining power and popularity.
Read
July 19, 2020My review of the March trilogy can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 22, 2020
There is plenty to process in the final volume of the March Trilogy.
Beginning in 1963 with the shocking 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing and ending with the Selma-Montgomery marches of 1965 this is a visceral guide to some of the pivotal moments in the Civil Rights Movement.
The graphic novel format makes plain the violence at the heart of this struggle, it helped shift my perspective to consider this as a war for equal rights. A war where one side is committed to non-violent protest and yet is systemically arrested, beaten up and murdered. It is also galling when you follow up on some of the murders presented here, many remain unsolved or prosecuted decades later.
This has to be one of the best graphic novel series I have read, even with my caveat that the text is way too small in places.
A fitting tribute to the life of Congressman John Lewis and a reminder to me, how hard-won the Voting Rights Act was and that protecting it remains an ongoing battle.
Beginning in 1963 with the shocking 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing and ending with the Selma-Montgomery marches of 1965 this is a visceral guide to some of the pivotal moments in the Civil Rights Movement.
The graphic novel format makes plain the violence at the heart of this struggle, it helped shift my perspective to consider this as a war for equal rights. A war where one side is committed to non-violent protest and yet is systemically arrested, beaten up and murdered. It is also galling when you follow up on some of the murders presented here, many remain unsolved or prosecuted decades later.
This has to be one of the best graphic novel series I have read, even with my caveat that the text is way too small in places.
A fitting tribute to the life of Congressman John Lewis and a reminder to me, how hard-won the Voting Rights Act was and that protecting it remains an ongoing battle.
October 17, 2017
I'm late to the party on this one because I was waiting for them to come out with one comprehensive volume. This may or may not have happened yet, but the library doesn't have it if it does exist. I started to feel an urgency to read it, and since all three volumes are out, decided that was good enough. I'll post the same review on all three volumes.
John Lewis recounts the civil rights movement from his first-hand perspective. All three volumes are framed with the narrative of Lewis remembering these events on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. Ugh, SO poignant in these dark times.
It was tough to read at points, on an emotional level, and I was glad to be able to take it a bit at a time over my breaks at work.
He's not afraid of going into the nitty-gritty. Disagreements between factions of the movement, differing philosophies, the times where he was representing a group vs. when he was acting personally.
And it's all stunningly rendered by Nate Powell. I mean. That person knows his way around a stick with ink or graphite coming out of it! Obv.
This isn't intended to be the whole picture - of the civil rights movement, OR of John Lewis' life. I got the sense that it's a piece created because he's one of the last living leaders of the 1960s movement, and he wants to get a firsthand account on record. There are many names and faces and acronyms, and at times it's hard to keep everyone straight. The importance isn't lost though. This piece of history is critically important to our times.
Extra star because of the scope and uniqueness of the work.
I'm including this on my GN-Travelogue shelf because Lewis does travel all across the eastern USA, and in any larger survey of the genre, his coverage of the Freedom Rider part of history would be especially relevant.
John Lewis recounts the civil rights movement from his first-hand perspective. All three volumes are framed with the narrative of Lewis remembering these events on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. Ugh, SO poignant in these dark times.
It was tough to read at points, on an emotional level, and I was glad to be able to take it a bit at a time over my breaks at work.
He's not afraid of going into the nitty-gritty. Disagreements between factions of the movement, differing philosophies, the times where he was representing a group vs. when he was acting personally.
And it's all stunningly rendered by Nate Powell. I mean. That person knows his way around a stick with ink or graphite coming out of it! Obv.
This isn't intended to be the whole picture - of the civil rights movement, OR of John Lewis' life. I got the sense that it's a piece created because he's one of the last living leaders of the 1960s movement, and he wants to get a firsthand account on record. There are many names and faces and acronyms, and at times it's hard to keep everyone straight. The importance isn't lost though. This piece of history is critically important to our times.
Extra star because of the scope and uniqueness of the work.
I'm including this on my GN-Travelogue shelf because Lewis does travel all across the eastern USA, and in any larger survey of the genre, his coverage of the Freedom Rider part of history would be especially relevant.
March 3, 2017
March: Book Three is the most decorated book of the 2017 literary awards season, and I'll start by saying it deserves every accolade.
It's almost overwhelming, though, how much there is to process.
For one thing, the echoes of the current political climate, and, in particular, the climate that spawned the (very necessary) Black Lives Matter movement and the (very unnecessary) backlash against Muslims, is chilling. For the longest time, when people would get their backs up about race relations, I would occasionally find myself saying, "Yes, we should be mad. But we've also come so far."
Having now read the entire March trilogy back-to-back, I'm not so sure that we've come far at all. And I'm struck now more than ever by my naïveté.
In fact, it kind of freaks me out how little progress has actually happened.
Let's play a game:
1963/1964/1965 or 2015/2016/2017?
"They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers."
"Until the killing of black mothers' sons is as important as the killing of white mothers' sons, we must keep on ."
"The Republican party is in real danger of subversion by a radical, well-financed, and highly discipline minority... wholly alien to the sound and honest conservatism that has firmly based the Republican party in the best of a century's traditions, wholly alien to the sound and honest Republican liberalism that has kept the party abreast of human needs in a changing world."
"But calling someone a 'communist' or a 'socialist' is the intellectual equivalent of throwing from your back foot. You're not putting much on the ball."
"There is no negro problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem."
Did you think, "Hell, these could have been said today!"? You're right. They could have been. But they're all from March: Book Three (p. 18, p. 99, p.102, p. 143, p. 223)
This should shake every red-blooded, patriotic American that pays attention to the news to the core.
Lewis' story is so timely, so relevant to the rise in so-called populism we're currently seeing, that I would argue it makes his trilogy, and this volume in particular, vital to national discourse. In an ideal world, we would see the entire trilogy taught in middle schools (and high schools) across the nation. We would keep our youth engaged in discussion about race and class and freedom, and this book would be the perfect vehicle for such discussion.
Throughout the year, I participate rather actively in librarian-ish discussions, on blogs and in person, of "award-worthy" books. After the Youth Media Awards, there is often grumbling that occurs along with the exultation. I've taken part in both. When last year's Newbery Medal went to a picture book, I just about lost my mind. But I felt justified. It's a frigging picture book with text that might fill up a single, typed page. I loved the book, but just can't get past that the text was somehow more distinguished than the 500 page book that nabbed an honor.
When the rumblings started about March: Book Three winning too many awards, I found myself wondering if it was the work of trolls or people who honestly questioned its merits. One person mused on a blog if this book would have won had Hillary Clinton been elected. What a leap of logic. March: Book Three isn't even about Hillary Clinton, so I can only guess what the commenter was attempting to state. Even if Clinton had won, I can honestly say that I think this book would have swept. It is a remarkable, moving story about the fight for freedom. The prose is excellent, oftentimes rising to poetic moments. The art, too, is phenomenal. Powell's pen and ink drawings are highly evocative. There's a truly stirring, symbolic image on page 225 that serves to unite the nationwide narrative with the personal, internal narrative. It nearly brought me to tears.
This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of hatred and bigotry and fascism. It is an important story and one that should rally and stir within the reader a reflective moment, one that empowers and inspires. If the writing had been half-baked or ham-fisted, it would not achieve this effect. Yet, like all powerful literature, it does. So let's remove the "politics" of the argument altogether. This is a fine piece of writing and a marvelous catalog of human perseverance.
One reviewer on Goodreads claimed that the use of speeches was taxing. I can see that some people might not want to read re-prints of speeches. We must consider, however, the audience of this book. March: Book Three was written for young adults, ages 12+. This age group's context for historical movements during the Civil Rights era likely comes from textbooks (that have a strictly white perspective). Providing context for young people is critical, and what better way to provide that than pair historical speeches with images that reflect the reactions to those speeches? There's a wonderful moment on page 226, when, after Bloody Sunday, Jim Forman allows his passions to get the best of him, and he drops an f-bomb in front of a congregation that includes white people, members of nonviolent movements, and religious people. Powell's rendering of the nuns' reactions is a beautiful foil to what Forman hoped to accomplish, but failed. I would argue that the speeches are augmented beautifully by the art, and therefore profoundly necessary to the book's momentum.
If there is one nitpicky weakness to March: Book Three, it's the parallel to Obama's inauguration. Every now and then the narration of the past is interrupted by panels that depict Lewis' involvement in the 2009 inauguration. This works very well in the first two books of the trilogy, but distracts from the nail-biting drama of this volume. These passages in Book Three would have served far better as an epilogue, because the point is beautifully rendered by the end. I will say, however, that the final page of the book, is completely unnecessary. The book could have had a far stronger lingering finale.
It is not enough, however, to lessen the impact of this book. March: Book Three is marvelous in every sense of the word, and it rallies in me the fighting spirit even more - as a member of the LGBTQ community, as a participant in the Women's March on Washington and a virulent critic of the current administration, and as an American... an American who wants all Americans to have equal footing, equal access to vote, and equal (which is not "special") treatment.
I truly love this book and deeply admire the man who wrote it.
Come at me, trolls.
It's almost overwhelming, though, how much there is to process.
For one thing, the echoes of the current political climate, and, in particular, the climate that spawned the (very necessary) Black Lives Matter movement and the (very unnecessary) backlash against Muslims, is chilling. For the longest time, when people would get their backs up about race relations, I would occasionally find myself saying, "Yes, we should be mad. But we've also come so far."
Having now read the entire March trilogy back-to-back, I'm not so sure that we've come far at all. And I'm struck now more than ever by my naïveté.
In fact, it kind of freaks me out how little progress has actually happened.
Let's play a game:
1963/1964/1965 or 2015/2016/2017?
"They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers."
"Until the killing of black mothers' sons is as important as the killing of white mothers' sons, we must keep on ."
"The Republican party is in real danger of subversion by a radical, well-financed, and highly discipline minority... wholly alien to the sound and honest conservatism that has firmly based the Republican party in the best of a century's traditions, wholly alien to the sound and honest Republican liberalism that has kept the party abreast of human needs in a changing world."
"But calling someone a 'communist' or a 'socialist' is the intellectual equivalent of throwing from your back foot. You're not putting much on the ball."
"There is no negro problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem."
Did you think, "Hell, these could have been said today!"? You're right. They could have been. But they're all from March: Book Three (p. 18, p. 99, p.102, p. 143, p. 223)
This should shake every red-blooded, patriotic American that pays attention to the news to the core.
Lewis' story is so timely, so relevant to the rise in so-called populism we're currently seeing, that I would argue it makes his trilogy, and this volume in particular, vital to national discourse. In an ideal world, we would see the entire trilogy taught in middle schools (and high schools) across the nation. We would keep our youth engaged in discussion about race and class and freedom, and this book would be the perfect vehicle for such discussion.
Throughout the year, I participate rather actively in librarian-ish discussions, on blogs and in person, of "award-worthy" books. After the Youth Media Awards, there is often grumbling that occurs along with the exultation. I've taken part in both. When last year's Newbery Medal went to a picture book, I just about lost my mind. But I felt justified. It's a frigging picture book with text that might fill up a single, typed page. I loved the book, but just can't get past that the text was somehow more distinguished than the 500 page book that nabbed an honor.
When the rumblings started about March: Book Three winning too many awards, I found myself wondering if it was the work of trolls or people who honestly questioned its merits. One person mused on a blog if this book would have won had Hillary Clinton been elected. What a leap of logic. March: Book Three isn't even about Hillary Clinton, so I can only guess what the commenter was attempting to state. Even if Clinton had won, I can honestly say that I think this book would have swept. It is a remarkable, moving story about the fight for freedom. The prose is excellent, oftentimes rising to poetic moments. The art, too, is phenomenal. Powell's pen and ink drawings are highly evocative. There's a truly stirring, symbolic image on page 225 that serves to unite the nationwide narrative with the personal, internal narrative. It nearly brought me to tears.
This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of hatred and bigotry and fascism. It is an important story and one that should rally and stir within the reader a reflective moment, one that empowers and inspires. If the writing had been half-baked or ham-fisted, it would not achieve this effect. Yet, like all powerful literature, it does. So let's remove the "politics" of the argument altogether. This is a fine piece of writing and a marvelous catalog of human perseverance.
One reviewer on Goodreads claimed that the use of speeches was taxing. I can see that some people might not want to read re-prints of speeches. We must consider, however, the audience of this book. March: Book Three was written for young adults, ages 12+. This age group's context for historical movements during the Civil Rights era likely comes from textbooks (that have a strictly white perspective). Providing context for young people is critical, and what better way to provide that than pair historical speeches with images that reflect the reactions to those speeches? There's a wonderful moment on page 226, when, after Bloody Sunday, Jim Forman allows his passions to get the best of him, and he drops an f-bomb in front of a congregation that includes white people, members of nonviolent movements, and religious people. Powell's rendering of the nuns' reactions is a beautiful foil to what Forman hoped to accomplish, but failed. I would argue that the speeches are augmented beautifully by the art, and therefore profoundly necessary to the book's momentum.
If there is one nitpicky weakness to March: Book Three, it's the parallel to Obama's inauguration. Every now and then the narration of the past is interrupted by panels that depict Lewis' involvement in the 2009 inauguration. This works very well in the first two books of the trilogy, but distracts from the nail-biting drama of this volume. These passages in Book Three would have served far better as an epilogue, because the point is beautifully rendered by the end. I will say, however, that the final page of the book, is completely unnecessary. The book could have had a far stronger lingering finale.
It is not enough, however, to lessen the impact of this book. March: Book Three is marvelous in every sense of the word, and it rallies in me the fighting spirit even more - as a member of the LGBTQ community, as a participant in the Women's March on Washington and a virulent critic of the current administration, and as an American... an American who wants all Americans to have equal footing, equal access to vote, and equal (which is not "special") treatment.
I truly love this book and deeply admire the man who wrote it.
Come at me, trolls.
July 6, 2021
I had to read this book--my colleague chose it for her Children's Literature class. I knew I was taking over the class when she went on maternity leave, so I had to read the book she chose. I couldn't be happier with her choice, which goes under the "Identity and Censorship" unit. This book could definitely be challenged by censorious readers, but it's so important to American identity. I love Lyndon B. Johnson's speech, during which he said that we don't have a "Negro problem," we have an "American problem." My students and I discussed this in class the other day--we're all Americans, so the history of the Civil Rights Movement is the history of all of us. We don't want to face that it happened here, in the "land of the free and the home of the brave," and we don't want to take responsibility for it. We want to pretend that the ways things are now (which isn't all that great for all of us, anyway) is the way they always were. The fact of the matter is that our nation, not that long ago, discriminated against people, legally, because of the color of their skin. People weren't allowed to vote because they were black. Government and law enforcement officials acted however they wanted, and their heinous actions were overlooked. If this sounds familiar, unfortunately, it's because many of the events and key themes in this book are still relevant today.
In the book, there's a moving moment when LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, and I was thinking about how history was present in the Capitol building that day, and it's funny because history is present when I'm reading this book and thinking that the struggles from 153 years ago and from 53 years ago are the same as they are today in some ways. My students commented on that. One was reading right after the elections on Tuesday, and she was saying how she couldn't believe she was reading about the past when it was so relevant to the present.
My "big questions" for my students about this book were whether or not graphic novels are an appropriate medium for such a serious topic, whether John Lewis is an important figure in young adult literature, and whether or not historical fiction can take the place of, or work alongside, traditional history books. I liked the graphic novel format--it made me feel like part of the action, and I was reading it, not just reading about it. A great contrast is made within the covers of the book itself. In the "About the Authors" section, the events of the book are summarized as part of Lewis's life. What a difference reading a bunch of statements about what happened instead of seeing it unfold before my eyes as if I were there. Is Lewis biased? Are there "characters" portrayed a specific way? Of course. Lewis, Ayden, and Powell are human, and they have a point of view. After all, the Civil War is sometimes called "The War of Northern Aggression" in the South, and rightly so from that perspective. However, I believe the authors did their best to stay true to what happened.
Lewis is an important figure--he's lesser known than Dr. King, but he did as much for the Movement. Obama thanked him on the day of his inauguration because he knew what Lewis contributed. He showed courage and determination, and he stayed true to his non-violent principles. Even when he was beaten and arrested, he didn't fight back. That's a great example for young adults to read about. I also believe that history classes should incorporate historical fiction and graphic novels alongside textbooks. They bring the history to life and give it a human element that textbooks typically don't have. As one of my students said, she read about the bombing of the church in Birmingham, but then it was, "next paragraph." You don't have that in a book like this. You're forced to watch it happen, to look at the images, to become a part of what went on that day. It's important for students to know about these events but also to experience them and to put feelings and emotions to events that typically get a few lines and then are moved on from.
The artistry in this book is amazing. There are motifs and traditional comic book elements like sound effects, but there's also a lot done with shading and lines, with conceptual imagery, and zooms in and out and juxtapositions that add depth of meaning to the words and drawings.
I'm highly impressed with this book. It moved me to tears multiple times. It hurt me and made me mad. The idea for it came years before it was published, but it ended up coming out in 2016. There are comments about liberals versus conservatives and "red-baiting," name calling for name calling's sake, a lot of material that, again, is still relevant. I wonder how Lewis felt when dealing with the Obama scenes, knowing that so much would regress, that the lines would dig in more deeply, that hatred would grow and spread, that all he fought for wasn't coming to fruition but was emerging for a brief time and then fading out once again. It's a sad irony that what followed the first black president's administration has already done so much to break down and not build up diversity and love and equality and freedom.
Reading this book taught me so much, and I'm really glad that I read it and learned about a time in our history that I didn't know much about. It's important for all of us to learn about but especially for kids, to let them absorb this into their consciousness, so they can hopefully do and be differently and better, collectively.
In the book, there's a moving moment when LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, and I was thinking about how history was present in the Capitol building that day, and it's funny because history is present when I'm reading this book and thinking that the struggles from 153 years ago and from 53 years ago are the same as they are today in some ways. My students commented on that. One was reading right after the elections on Tuesday, and she was saying how she couldn't believe she was reading about the past when it was so relevant to the present.
My "big questions" for my students about this book were whether or not graphic novels are an appropriate medium for such a serious topic, whether John Lewis is an important figure in young adult literature, and whether or not historical fiction can take the place of, or work alongside, traditional history books. I liked the graphic novel format--it made me feel like part of the action, and I was reading it, not just reading about it. A great contrast is made within the covers of the book itself. In the "About the Authors" section, the events of the book are summarized as part of Lewis's life. What a difference reading a bunch of statements about what happened instead of seeing it unfold before my eyes as if I were there. Is Lewis biased? Are there "characters" portrayed a specific way? Of course. Lewis, Ayden, and Powell are human, and they have a point of view. After all, the Civil War is sometimes called "The War of Northern Aggression" in the South, and rightly so from that perspective. However, I believe the authors did their best to stay true to what happened.
Lewis is an important figure--he's lesser known than Dr. King, but he did as much for the Movement. Obama thanked him on the day of his inauguration because he knew what Lewis contributed. He showed courage and determination, and he stayed true to his non-violent principles. Even when he was beaten and arrested, he didn't fight back. That's a great example for young adults to read about. I also believe that history classes should incorporate historical fiction and graphic novels alongside textbooks. They bring the history to life and give it a human element that textbooks typically don't have. As one of my students said, she read about the bombing of the church in Birmingham, but then it was, "next paragraph." You don't have that in a book like this. You're forced to watch it happen, to look at the images, to become a part of what went on that day. It's important for students to know about these events but also to experience them and to put feelings and emotions to events that typically get a few lines and then are moved on from.
The artistry in this book is amazing. There are motifs and traditional comic book elements like sound effects, but there's also a lot done with shading and lines, with conceptual imagery, and zooms in and out and juxtapositions that add depth of meaning to the words and drawings.
I'm highly impressed with this book. It moved me to tears multiple times. It hurt me and made me mad. The idea for it came years before it was published, but it ended up coming out in 2016. There are comments about liberals versus conservatives and "red-baiting," name calling for name calling's sake, a lot of material that, again, is still relevant. I wonder how Lewis felt when dealing with the Obama scenes, knowing that so much would regress, that the lines would dig in more deeply, that hatred would grow and spread, that all he fought for wasn't coming to fruition but was emerging for a brief time and then fading out once again. It's a sad irony that what followed the first black president's administration has already done so much to break down and not build up diversity and love and equality and freedom.
Reading this book taught me so much, and I'm really glad that I read it and learned about a time in our history that I didn't know much about. It's important for all of us to learn about but especially for kids, to let them absorb this into their consciousness, so they can hopefully do and be differently and better, collectively.
January 5, 2018
Trigger warnings: violence, murder, police brutality, racism, racial slurs.
Holy wow. The previous two books in this trilogy were outstanding, but this was a cut above. The juxtaposition between the apparent hopelessness the civil rights movement was up against in Mississippi and Alabama and the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009 was incredibly powerful.
The sheer determination against overwhelming odds that Lewis and other key figures in the civil rights movement demonstrated comes through so clearly in this volume. I'm not sure if it struck more of a chord with me than the previous volumes because I knew more of the details of the Freedom Summer murders and the marches on Selma, but getting an insiders perspective on those events? Was astonishing.
Basically? This trilogy is absolutely wonderful from start to finish, and this volume is its crowning glory.
Holy wow. The previous two books in this trilogy were outstanding, but this was a cut above. The juxtaposition between the apparent hopelessness the civil rights movement was up against in Mississippi and Alabama and the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009 was incredibly powerful.
The sheer determination against overwhelming odds that Lewis and other key figures in the civil rights movement demonstrated comes through so clearly in this volume. I'm not sure if it struck more of a chord with me than the previous volumes because I knew more of the details of the Freedom Summer murders and the marches on Selma, but getting an insiders perspective on those events? Was astonishing.
Basically? This trilogy is absolutely wonderful from start to finish, and this volume is its crowning glory.
August 29, 2016
The March trilogy is a testament to how far we've come & what we face in the present. John Lewis has spent his life fighting for the rights of the oppressed & continues to till this very day. So many people both black & white died in the fight to get civil rights. They we're called thugs, agitators, & troublemakers. None of that stopped them though because they understood 50 years ago that Black Lives Matter. The March series should be required reading for everyone.
July 26, 2022
The "March" trilogy reaches its conclusion with the third and heftiest book in the series, which begins with the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and concludes with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, itself arriving in the wake of the triumphal March from Selma -- in which our protagonist John Lewis participated. Between all this there is all the violence and peaceful struggle students of the Civil Rights Movement will expect, told from the personal perspective of Lewis, who comes closer to death in this chapter of the saga than ever before. There were, of course, plenty who did not escape death during this time (Malcolm X, Viola Liuzzo, Jimmie Lee Jackson, among others) and March: Book Three does not shy away from them. Indeed, their murders serve as greater inspiration for the continuation of Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., et al, in their quest for justice, freedom, dignity.
As with the previous books in the series, this final entry knowingly shuns the idea of ultimate victory. The fight for racial equality did not end with the signing of a bill or the casting of a ballot. The portion of the book set during the Civil Rights Movement ends before Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy have been assassinated (in one of the book's most touching scenes, Senator Ted Kennedy phones Congressman Lewis on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration to tell him he was thinking about their lost brothers). And the book doesn't get into the white supremacist backlash that followed Obama's rise to the presidency. Even today, right-wing politicians are doing what they can to dilute the power of black voters, to make voting more difficult, and to roll back the civil rights gains (for blacks, for women, for LGBTQ+ people) of the past several decades. Lewis surely anticipated this, which is why his activism never really stopped, even if he felt the movement as he knew it ended or changed around the time Lyndon Johnson borrowed its "We Shall Overcome" mantra for one of American history's greatest speeches.
This book is a beautiful end to a great series of graphic novels that manages to become an essential read for those interested in the Civil Rights Movement. It would no doubt be an ideal introduction to the period for young adult readers despite all the pain and violence it contains. Finally, it stands as a lasting tribute to John Lewis, one of the American heroes of his time.
August 21, 2016
Wow. This series blew me away. It should be required reading in every high school class. It does an amazing job of personalizing the Civil Rights movement and making it more than just a series of names and dates, but a real struggle, a nonviolent revolution that cost people their lives. I'm amazed at the courage and tenacity of those Civil Rights leaders. How can you endure so much hate for so long without giving up in despair? A riveting read, and an important one. No one should ever forget how bad things really were - that people would be beaten and killed for trying to vote, for God's sake. Read it, and then think hard about the state of the nation.
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