Review by Frank Plowright

Lifelong civil activist John Lewis was also a United States Congressman for over thirty years from 1986. He died at the age of eighty in 2020, but not before he’d seen through the publication of a three volume graphic memoir co-written with his policy advisor Andrew Aydin. The march of the title is but one of many milestones brought to impressionistic life by artist Nate Powell, but not actually the focus until well into the collection

There was no privilege to Lewis’ upbringing and a formative experience was taking a road trip with his Uncle Otis in 1951, which opened his eyes to the realities of life in segregated Alabama and the possibilities beyond. We learn how Lewis prioritised education over working on the family farm and takes inspiration from those standing up to injustice.

Forming his ideas around non-violent protest at racial persecution, Lewis nonetheless serves time in jail for his views on equality, and is shown active among the Freedom Riders of the early 1960s. They visited US states refusing to embrace laws on desegregation, confronting the local bigots and renecks, and Powell’s evocative illustrations of the often officially encouraged appalling consequences bring home the lack of justice far more powerfully than any text book.

The march of the title was organised by the Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC) during Lewis’ time as chair, and was in the name of jobs and freedom. Several hundred thousand people headed toward Washington for what became a historical milestone. Lewis gave an inspirational speech, and the full text is supplied after the comics.

Lewis provides the very definition of a live well lived, and always in the service of attempting to improve conditions for his fellow man. Lewis achieved an immense amount, which has to be borne in mind when on occasion March tips a little too far into self-promotion. Toward the end quoting speeches by Lewis at length leads to March’s driest moments. However, as well as documenting ingrained social injustice, Lewis and Aydin provide valuable insights into the times of our grandfathers and their fathers, when being poor could equate to starvation.

Powell’s loose art is magnificent throughout, only faltering when likeness are needed of the famous, which isn’t his strength. With both Lewis and Aydin being novices when it comes to writing a graphic novel one imagines Powell’s task involved interpretation rather than strictly following a script, yet he brings the period to grim life.

Despite Lewis’ later achievements, March ends in the 1960s with a second march, this time from Selma to Montgomery in Mississippi, this one having even greater relevance.

March brings history to life through the eyes of someone who was there, and minor shortcomings are negligible when weighed against a great achievement. The reason for the subtitle is the content previously being available as three separate volumes. Start with Book One for more detailed reviews of each section.