The March series--Congressman John Lewis, Capitol Hill staffer Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell's Eisner Award-winning project documenting the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in comic book format--concludes with a message that has proven to be just as relevant in 2016 as it was 50 years ago.
The third volume continues where the second left off. Less than a month after Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader John Lewis led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, four teenage girls are killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church's Youth Day celebration in Birmingham, Ala. Members of Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the SNCC are outraged and threaten to march on the Alabama capital to demand the resignation of Governor George Wallace. Before either group can take action, however, news comes of President Kennedy's assassination. While Lyndon B. Johnson ultimately champions their cause, he does so without changing the status quo. As the SNCC and SCLC continue their protests, their efforts incite further violent backlash from the police and surrounding communities, and fractious struggles within the SNCC threaten to derail the march from Selma to Montgomery.
There is a lot of tension and emotion with no sugarcoating of history here; Powell's drawings evoke a close-up black-and-white documentary atmosphere, recording the movement's major victories as well as the tumult that the young Lewis faced. Nevertheless, March: Book Three ends on a hopeful note. What better way to teach younger generations than by historical example of what is achievable when people are willing to sacrifice greatly for a worthy cause? --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant