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Title: March: Book Three
Author: John Lewis with Andrew Aydin
Illustrator: Nate Powell
Series: March
Series Number: 3
Genre: Memoir, History, Social Justice, Politics, Southern Literature, Graphic Novel
Audience: Young Adult
Content Warning: Racism, Violence, Sexism, Murder
My Review:
I haven’t yet read Mr. Lewis’s more traditional autobiographies for comparison, but actually seeing the hate and the violence confronting people who just want to be treated like full citizens of their country with equal rights in these graphic memoirs is so powerful.
What struck me most as I read this in late 2024 is how a lot of the same racist laws and policies are being enacted again in states across the country, sixty years later (see this article on CNN for an example). The incident that most felt to me like it could be taking place today centered around Black citizens standing in line, trying to register to vote in Selma, on the two days a month that voter registration was allowed.
“It was hot, but no one was allowed to leave the line for water or to use the bathroom. Even if they could, the ‘colored’ bathrooms had been locked.”
The registrar would take an hours-long lunch and only call in one or two people in the morning and maybe not anyone in the afternoon. But the people kept waiting. The sheriff, Jim Clark, denied the requests of bystanders who asked to provide water to the people in line and threatened to arrest anyone who offered the waiting people assistance, for “molestin’ people trying to register to vote,” the very thing he and his deputies were doing. The hypocrisy would be mind-blowing if it weren’t overshadowed by the murders and the beatings.
This volume begins with the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four young Black girls and wraps up around Bloody Sunday, when Mr. Lewis and many others were ruthlessly beaten and tear gassed as they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma on a peaceful (on their part) march from Selma to Montgomery.
It isn’t an easy memoir to read, but it’s a part of our country’s history that needs to be remembered as we honor the sacrifices of so many who fought so hard for their civil rights.
Synopsis from GoodReads:
Welcome to the stunning conclusion of the award-winning and best-selling MARCH trilogy. Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, joins co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today’s world.
Similar Books:
If you liked March: Book Three, you might also like my reviews of
- The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Young Readers Edition) by Jeanne Theoharis, adapted by Brandy Colbert
- Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (2018 edition) by James W. Loewen
Reading Challenge:
Purchase:
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