March for Good Trouble

Review by Bill Doughty––

We remember Civil Rights icon John Lewis, whose life and legacy are being commemorated and celebrated this week.

"March: Book Three" is written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with art by Nate Powell (Top Shelf Productions; 2016). It's a powerful "graphic novel" of nonfiction, and this is the best in the series.

The book opens with an explosion –– the bombing of the Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, resulting in the murders of four young black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair.

In the aftermath of the killings and in the midst of taunts of "2-4-6-8; we don't want to integrate," a group of white Eagle scouts, coming from a Ku Klux Klan rally, shot and killed 13-year-old Virgil Lamar Ware. Then, police shot 16-year-old Johnny Robinson.

It was 1963. John Lewis was only 23 years old and already a student leader in America's civil rights movement and an acolyte of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Like MLK, Lewis preached and practiced Gandhi-influenced nonviolence –– even in the face of deadly violence. Alabama Governor George Wallace had declared "segregation forever" and was quoted in a newspaper saying, "What this country needs is a few first-class funerals."

Lewis reflects on his grief over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a man who had pledged greater civil rights. It took Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, to achieve JFK's goal. (Both presidents were Navy veterans.)

In "March 3" we are introduced to women of the movement and see the pivotal role they played in demonstrating, protesting and marching: Fannie Lou Hamer, Margaret Moore, Ella Baker, Amelia Boynton, Diane Nash, Annie Lee Cooper, and of course Rosa Parks. Another women, Viola Liuzzo, was shot dead while helping shuttle demonstrators.

Brave women and men, black and white, stood up to face heavily armed paramilitary police, some in an armored personnel carrier. Lewis was called an "outside agitator," even though he was as much an Alabama citizen, as was the sheriff. He and his fellow students, teachers and other demonstrators wanted free and equal access to the voting booth.

This book is a march through history, with stark images of violence and transcendent images and words of victory. Lewis's optimism, humility and grace shine through, as we see the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Summer of '64 in Mississippi, Bloody Sunday, March to Montgomery, and signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

This book shows Lewis's steadfast resilience and commitment in the face of severe beatings, lengthy arrests and constant threats. His demands for federal assistance ––not reliance on individual states' justice systems –– eventually paid off. So did his steadfast belief in nonviolence, "making good trouble –– necessary trouble."

LBJ said, "It's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome."

"March 3" poignantly includes memorable moments from January 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama became the first African American president. 

One of the illustrations is of United States Navy Band "Sea Chanters" chorus performing the national anthem.

Another is of Obama handing Lewis a thank you note, "Because of you, John" –– signed Barack Obama.

See Navy Reads posts related to or honoring John Lewis, namesake of USNS John Lewis.

An Armed Forces Body Bearer Team carries the flag draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, Dem.-Ga., at Joint Base Andrews, Md., July 27, 2020. DoD personnel are honoring the congressman by providing military funeral honors to his congressional funeral events. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Bridgitte Taylor)

An Armed Forces Body Bearer Team carries a flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., July 27, 2020. The remains will lie in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol for a public viewing. (U.S. Army photos by Spc. Zachery Perkins)