March: Like Deja Vu

March is a graphic memoir trilogy by and about Congressman John Lewis' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. It is co-written by Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell. 

The first book in the trilogy focuses in on the early years of John Lewis' life in Alabama juxtaposed with a modern view of him getting ready for the first inauguration of our first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama. Book two recounts the Freedom Riders and their work to try and register voters in the south. Book three continues their efforts after the Freedom Rider summer to continue to find ways to register voters and try and get southern blacks to stand up for themselves and demand their rights in a living democracy. It ends with John Lewis invited to witness the signing of the 1965 voting rights act and travels again closes on the inauguration of the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama. 

The book focuses on Lewis' beliefs in both civil rights and non violence. It shows his early commitment as a young college student to righting injustice through his help in forming the Nashville Student Movement and their preparatory training for the non violent lunch counter sit ins. This is not a holier than thou account. Mr. Lewis shares the struggles of the group as well as his own personal struggles to try and do what he believes, even when he finds himself standing alone. He candidly shows a moment when he almost lashes back and breaks his non violence stand. He also shares his frustration about getting so many northern blacks and whites mobilized to help southern blacks who seem to just complacently accept the inequality and also see these young blacks as outsider instigators for violence in their own community.

I gave this book to one of my teacher prep students, a history major and future social studies teacher. He devoured it quietly and when he was done he said "this book is like deja vu." When I asked him what he meant, he just said that it is obvious that John Lewis really remembers what happened at that time and lived that life because it just mirrors and gives life to the primary source photos from that time and it makes it come alive from his perspective as if we are there and have been there before. 

What I liked about this book is that we see the historical figures in the movement including Martin Luther King Jr. as mentors and friends. It does not put them up as heroes but shows that in the midst of their now historic work, they continued to be human with missteps, insecurities and fear even as they kept doing the work they felt necessary. 

When I think about how little has changed and how violence and segregation still occurs, this trilogy holds more power to propel the next generations to non violent change.