March is a three-part graphic novel that tells the story of how Rep. John Lewis came to take part in the Selma-to-Montgomery march that eventually led to the Bloody Sunday confrontation between police and civil rights protesters. The series of graphic novels were co-written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin with illustrations by Nate Powell.
The story is set off by a framing device which serves to inform the reader in a subtle way as to just how far America has managed to come since that day in 1965 when white Alabama state troopers at the behest of a racist white governor assaulted those peacefully assembled in a protest for civil rights with batons and tear gas. The framing period is set nearly 50 years later on January 20, 2009. That is the day, of course, on which Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first black President in American history.
March: Book One was released in August, 2013 and provides the back story of John Lewis, informing the reader of his early background as well as the early history of the Civil Rights Movement. March: Book Two was released in January, 2015 and layers the story of movement toward the titular march by detailing the history of the Freedom Riders and climaxing with the Birmingham church bombing which marked a pivotal turning point. March: Book Three was released in August, 2016 and leads to the historical centerpiece of the trilogy, the Selma-to-Montgomery march and Bloody Sunday.
March: Book One was the first graphic novel to ever win a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award while March: Book Three was the first graphic novel to win a National Book Award.
