Rep. John Lewis Tells the Struggle For Civil Rights in Graphic Novel

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

It was only 53 years ago that four little black girls were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This is where the final installment of Congressman John Lewis' (D-GA) graphic novel, "March," begins.  

Over the next two hundred pages or so, readers are immersed in a series of events that helped shape America's current racial and political climate.  We are given a bird's-eye view of protests that occurred in the deep south in the early 1960s, including the march on Selma and over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where Congressman Lewis thought he would die.

The memoir ends at the White House in 1965, when then-President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. Lewis celebrated and then rushed to register people to vote.

The 76-year-old congressman, along with co-author Andrew Aydin and graphic novelist Nate Powell, have came together to tell history in this way, and came together in The Takeaway's studio today to share the process with us. Click on the 'Listen' button to the hear our full conversation with Congressman Lewis, Aydin, and Powell. 

The cover of the first installment of "March," Congressman John Lewis' graphic novel on the civil rights movement.

(Courtesy of Guest)

The cover of the second installment of "March," Congressman John Lewis' graphic novel on the civil rights movement.

(Courtesy of Guest)

The third installment of "March," Congressman John Lewis' graphic novel on the civil rights movement.

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the first installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest) 

A page from the first installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the first installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest) 

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest) 

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the second installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the third installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest) 

A page from the third installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

A page from the third installment of the book "March."

(Courtesy of Guest)

The 1957 comic that inspired John Lewis.

(Courtesy of Guest)

Counter clockwise from Bottom: Takeaway Host John Hockenberry; Congressman John Lewis; author Andrew Aydin; graphic artist Nate Powell.

(Jay Cowit/The Takeaway)