March is a new graphic novel by Congressman John Lewis, written with Andrew Aydin (one of his long time aids in Washington D.C.), with art by Nate Powell, recounting the early days of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In this first volume of three (125 pages, published by Top Shelf, for a mere $14.95), John Lewis covers the early period of his life as a boy growing up on a farm in Alabama. Very early on he develops an interest in sermons and when he is taken on trips to big cities in Tennessee and elsewhere, he sees how much different black people live and are treated in comparison to white people. This experience imparted in John Lewis to make learning a priority in his life so that he could make a difference in segregation being abolished.
This first volume of March starts its look at the Civil Rights Movement early development through Rosa Parks, Brown Vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, shows Martin Luther King Jr.'s emergence as the spokesperson for the Civil Rights Movement (especially his strong belief that this Movement come about through peaceful resistance), the many sit-in protests at businesses discriminating towards black people, and closes with showing how important Justice Thurgood Marshall will be to the Civil Rights Movement. This is a part of our history as a country that I'm elated to see getting such a prominent graphic novel treatment, and I'm also happy that March has in only a couple of months, gotten so much attention and is not just a historical point by point rehash of events, but also a personal, very engaging narrative.
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