March

I needed to read this now. Right now, July 2020, while Nazi thugs kidnap and beat civilians in Portland and soon other cities, with war looming and despair so close at hand. I needed to read it because I'm furious, and these books stoked that anger, fueled it so hard I was gritting my teeth... but they did more than that: they taught me. Re-taught, perhaps, because it's something I already knew and know but just need reminding sometimes: nonviolence can work. Has worked. I feel humbled by Lewis and his cohort: what incredible, lovely people. What a beautifully narrated and illustrated story.

Powerful, harrowing, upsetting and important. Book Two focuses on the 1961 Freedom Rides and the March on Washington D.C., ending with the 1963 Birmingham, Ala., church bombing. Now is the perfect time to read Lewis' books. It's important to know our American history: how peaceful protests for Black people's basic right to exist were for so long met with horrific White violence, and how dare we now condemn Black people - who just want to live and breathe without fear of being murdered - for protesting wrong.

The second March book is a little longer than the first, and left me with a lot to think about.

Lewis discusses tensions between different people and organizations all dedicated to fighting anti-Black racism. Lewis himself struggles to reconcile his perspective with both those older and younger than him. Thurgood Marshall doesn't go far enough, but Stokely Carmichael goes too far.

Priorities shift. People disagree about how (and whether) to involve politicians and journalists in organizing. People disagree about the effectiveness of nonviolence. Some want to focus on direct action and civil disobedience, whereas others emphasize legislation and voter registration. Everyone has their own convictions about the best ways to make real change.

Decades later, the same questions drive and divide activists. What role does spirituality play in political engagement? What happens when anti-racist and labor activism overlap? Is incremental reform the most realistic way to progress, or was Audre Lorde right about the master's tools? Should we leave respectability politics in the 20th Century?

I also want to mention how well Lewis drives home the point that this is recent history. Lewis was alive when Emmett Till was murdered and when Barack Obama was inaugurated. My parents were alive when Bull Connor turned fire hoses and dogs on demonstrators, some of them children. John Lewis doesn't let anyone get away with pretending that the horrors he (and so many others) lived through are distant or abstract. We should assign these books in high school social studies courses.

This is horrifying... like we all know the history, but not all the gory details.

This is an important book. Some may think less of it because of the graphic novel format. Some may struggle with the fact that it is based on one man's perspective of the Civil Rights movement. Whether one agrees with John Lewis' political viewpoints, I believe there is enough evidence to support the truthfulness of this story.

Lewis continues to tell the story of peaceful protests for equal rights. There is definitely anger and hate on display. Changing public perception comes with resistance and some of that resistance is violent.

This book has given me a look into realities I was ignorant of. I'd like to believe that I have a better understanding and sympathy for what Lewis and his compatriots went through. It also inspires me to be more intentional in how I treat others people. I am trying not to make assumptions about people simply on what I can see on the outside of them. Instead, I want to try to see others from the reality of God's love given equally to all.

I recommend this book, the series as a whole, to those who want to better understand our past. I would especially recommend it to those who would like to better understand feels citizens that make one nervous because they look, talk, and do things a little differently.

I don't have anything to add to what others have said. A good middle volume of a trilogy, well worth reading.

It's hard to read a book where those you consider Your People act in disappointing ways. It makes you cry. It makes you scream. It inspires you to follow the lead of the Others. It makes you want to buy copies of the book and give books out to all of Your People, even your Uncle Gene, at Thanksgiving, and then lead a discussion about the story at Christmas.

Short Review: This is really a single story, so splitting the review to the different volumes does not make much sense, although all could be read independently if you wanted to. The first volume is clearly an introduction and primarily focuses on the lunch counter integration in Nashville and John Lewis' early life and introduction to the civil rights movement. Books 2 and 3 are progressively longer and tell a much broader history of the movement while telling Lewis' own story.

There is an ongoing connection of the story with John Lewis' attendance at the 2008 Presidential Inauguration of Barak Obama. That juxtaposition is a brilliant story telling method. The graphic novel format really works for this story. I have read a couple of other history books told via graphic novel. And I like the format generally, but March is a particularly good example of how a visual story telling method can be used to great effect.

My slightly longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/march-2-3/

Much like [b:March: Book One 17346698 March Book One (March, #1) John Robert Lewis https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360539808s/17346698.jpg 24086771], a powerful story told with very striking art. Really heartbreaking moments, like when Lewis observes that of everyone who spoke at the march on Washington, he's the only one still alive, and it really digs into the complexities of the different voices in the civil rights movement, which tend to get glossed over in most MLK-centric histories. Really compelling, recommended for teens and adults alike.