Wow, book two in the March series was even more powerful than book one. Come to think of it, buy all three volumes, and give them to a young person you love. This is both a great graphic narrative and an accessible and accurate history of a crucial period in American history, a time filled with bravery and heroes. And as before, we see all the great turmoil and petty trials of the past framed by the story of Barack Obama’s first inauguration. In addition to the powerful portrayal of the dramatic events, I like the way the narrative includes realistic details of compromise and weakness: MLK’s refusal to join the Freedom Riders by saying he wishes to chooses his own “Golgotha” and then being mocked as “De Lawd,” Stokely Carmichael’s dangerous intransigence, the March on Washington’s reluctance to accept the services of accomplished organizer Bayard Rustin because he was was openly gay, and Lewis himself frustrated by demands that he alter his speech until he is persuaded by his idol A. Just as in the first volume, the stark black-and-white illustrations complement the somber and often disturbing events, but now, as the atmosphere becomes darker and more intense, the illustrations become more cinematic, more ominous. This second volume in the graphic biography of civil rights stalwart John Lewis begins with the Freedom Riders and Parchman Farm and ends with the March on Washington and the fatal bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church.
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