A Review of 'March: Book One' by John Lewis

Please note: this is a book I read in 2017.  Due to starting a new job, I kept up in reading but fell behind in blogging.  Reviews for 2018 reads will begin after the remaining 2017 reviews are posted.  Thank you for your patience!

"Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement.  His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole).

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim crow and segregation.  Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book 'Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.'  Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations."

When my husband and I went to California, we went to the San Diego Comic Art Gallery and this was the first place where I had heard of this book.  The guy running the place that day raved about it and so I thought that I would pick up the first book and see how I liked this series.

Now I'm looking for the remaining two books at a good price.  This is a series that I will keep on my shelf and encourage everyone I meet to read.

I think no matter how many times you have heard about what happened during the Civil Rights Movement, there's always something new to uncover and understand that just wasn't taught in history class.  To hear the lead-up to this movement, even from just one perspective, is powerful because it's one that I can never piece together on my own.  It's something I need to seek an education to understand.  I'm grateful that Congressman Lewis was willing to share his story so that others might understand.

I feel like I can't say a ton about this story yet because I still have two more parts to read.  But I'm excited to pick them up.  I'll be adding them to my "Read in 2018" shelves.  Even though my shelves are really full already, this is a series I will always make room for.

I give 'March: Book 1':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude