March Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

 genre: graphic nonfiction

This is the second of three graphic novels about the life of Congressman John Lewis.  This installment is mostly about the Freedom Riders, the group of men and women who rode interstate buses into the deep south to challenge the non-enforcement of bus desegregation.  I am ashamed by how little I understood this moment - I knew about the bus boycotts but didn't understand the depth of the violence these Freedom Riders experienced.  It's upsetting and moving and mostly makes me realize, again, how little I understand about the nuance and pain of the Civil Rights movement.  In my head, it just happened.  In reality, it was people, so many people, standing up again and again, willing to be beaten up, willing to be harassed and potentially killed.  I like how it moves between past and present - but only just - where we see what Congressman Lewis was up against during his college years in Nashville, the choices he made and opportunities he gave up to be a part of the Movement, and the result of all those sacrifices as the United States finally inaugurates an African American president.