March: Books 2 & 3

Books Two and Three of March by John Lewis continue and then conclude Lewis’s graphic memoir of his role in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. As a child, Lewis read Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, a comic book recounting the bus boycotts of 1955 and 1956 that helped kick off the civil rights movement. Some described the comic book as corrupting the minds of America’s youth, as it adopted a format usually reserved for superheroes and inspired many young people to join in King’s fight against injustice and question the conventional wisdom of their elders. The idea of publishing a comic book about Lewis’s life came from Andrew Aydin, a policy advisor on Lewis’s staff and avid comic book fan who believed Lewis could inspire young people the same way King inspired him. Lewis agreed on the condition that Aydin serve as his coauthor, along with highly esteemed illustrator Nate Powell.

This summary is based on the first editions by Top Shelf Publishing published in 2015 (March: Book Two) and 2016 (March: Book Three).

Summary

The chronicle of Lewis’s activism unfolds in a series of flashbacks as Congressman Lewis reflects on his life while attending the inauguration of Barack Obama, America’s first Black president. The inauguration marks a triumph for Lewis, who was nearly beaten to death for trying to secure voting rights for Black Americans, and the new president acknowledges his debt to Lewis for the sacrifices Lewis made in paving the way for this historic moment. Book Two is not formally divided into chapters; rather, it periodically pauses the narrative to return to Obama’s inauguration, contrasting a joyous event and major milestone for Black equality with the many challenges and dilemmas Lewis and other civil rights activists have faced.

Book One explored Lewis’s childhood in rural Alabama, his early encounters with segregation, and his work with the Nashville student movement that led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Book Two picks up with Lewis’s efforts to challenge segregation in Nashville, Tennessee, revealing the increasingly brutal treatment he and others endured. It then transitions from Lewis’s time as a local civil rights figure to his time as a national figure as an original member of the “Freedom Riders,” that is, the integrated pairs of bus passengers who sought to test a recent Supreme Court decision banning segregation on buses and bus terminals. The book covers how the Freedom Riders gained attention and volunteers while meeting with horrific violence from both police and mobs operating with total impunity. After multiple jailings, beatings, and encounters with the Ku Klux Klan, the Freedom Riders finally forced the government’s hand, and the Kennedy administration compelled the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the ruling.

Book Two next covers how, once Lewis was elected chairman of the SNCC, the SNCC shifted its focus to registering Black voters, particularly in Alabama and Mississippi; in these areas, formal and informal restrictions left only a tiny number of the Black population registered to vote, with even fewer actually voting for fear of retaliation. As was the case with the Freedom Riders, there was no chance for success without federal action, and no federal action without a concerted effort to highlight the struggle of Black Americans asking for nothing more than the securing of their constitutional rights. This effort culminated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963, when the “Big Six” civil rights leaders (including Lewis and King) led thousands to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and demanded civil rights legislation. This event is best remembered for King’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.

After many setbacks, including the terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law in July 1964, outlawing public segregation but not addressing the issue of voting rights. Book Three follows how Lewis and his fellow activists redoubled their efforts to register voters, particularly in Alabama, where Governor George Wallace made himself infamous for his strident opposition to civil rights, which included personally standing in the way of Black students trying to attend the University of Alabama. Lewis’s efforts in Alabama, particularly the city of Selma, were met with tremendous difficulty, as state and local authorities were immovable without federal pressure that was not forthcoming.

After Alabama state troopers murdered a protester, Lewis and others proposed a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, a 54-mile march along the state highway that would dramatize the struggle for Black suffrage. In the first attempted march, Lewis suffered a near-fatal beating on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Despite his injuries, he joined the march only two weeks later, after the federal government demanded that the march proceed without state interference. Months later, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act and handed Lewis the pen he used to sign it.

The book observes that, though the fight for Black equality was far from over, the act represented a major victory against institutional racism in the United States. An effort is now underway to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after John Lewis, and a voting rights bill in his name passed the House of Representatives in 2021.