New York public schools will be using a graphic novel to teach students about the life story of Rep. John Lewis. The award-winning graphic novel tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.
The novel will be adding to the "Passport to Social Studies" program taught to eighth-grade students. Teachers are expected to develop lessons from the book as they teach about the civil right's movement. Studying the book will be part of an expansive new curriculum developed by the New York City Department of Education.
The graphic novel, called "March", is a trilogy that became a popular selection for university reading programs. The series of graphic novels is a #1 NYT-bestselling phenomenon, which also earned a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.
"March" is a dynamic and powerful visual testimony of the civil rights movement, narrated by Lewis, one of its major figures. The book brings the African-American struggles to life through the lens of Lewis' remarkable journey and encapsulated the most important themes of the Civil Rights Movement, according to Dave Gilbert from Mars Hill University.
Lewis wrote on his Facebook page on Monday that he is deeply moved that New York Public Schools are adding a book about his life story to the Social Studies curriculum. Lewis shares that it is a major step in ensuring that every young person receives the best possible education about non-violence and the Civil Rights Movement.
Co-author of the book Andrew Aydin said he hoped the inclusion on "March" would encourage the use of more graphic novels in schools. Aydin co-wrote the book with Lewis and Nate Powell, according to the Huffington Post.
Aydin wrote on his Facebook page that the inclusion of March is major step forward for teaching movements and the use of comics in the classroom. "Hopefully the first domino of many," according to Aydin.
Representative John Lewis was born in Alabama and attended segregated public schools as a child. It was a nonviolence workshop that he attended while he was a college student in Nashville, Tennessee that changed his life.
He was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee from 1963 to 1966. Lewis gave a milestone speech at the 1963 March on Washington, according to Top Shelf Comix. In 1965, Lewis was brutally beaten during a voting rights demonstration known as "Blood Sunday" at Selma, Alabama.
