A few weeks ago, a copy of March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell arrived in the mail. This was mysterious, since I’d read and loved all three volumes of March already and hadn’t ordered this copy. There was no note, but it was certain that whoever had sent it had excellent taste.
After some sleuthing, I learned that this book arriving in my mailbox, was the result of when I’d signed up for a “Blind Date with a Banned Comic Book” through the organization Creators Assemble! This is a program that seeks to connect readers with comics and graphic novels that have been challenged or banned, and in doing so, spread awareness about the harmful nature of banning books. They had sent me this one, prompting me not only to reread it, but also to find out more about its connection to banned books.
The bestselling, award-laden March tells the story of Congressman John Lewis’s activism in the Civil Rights movement through the elegant framing conceit of him looking back on that era while preparing for his role in President Obama’s inauguration. I read March with a group last year and was incredibly impressed by the quality of the art and storytelling, and also by what I learned about the Civil Rights movement in the U.S.
March emphasizes just how many ways there are to help such a movement. Those who are not able to attend sit ins or risk being arrested, can instead drive people, write documents, make phone calls, coordinate, and more.
March also clarified for me the rhetoric of the sit-ins at lunch counters: protesters were using capitalism to assert their worth, saying “we are customers. Our money is good here.” In doing so, they point out how capitalism wasn’t actually what business owners were prioritizing. Over and over they say “we have the money, let us pay for the thing.”
Finally, I also learned how many women were at the forefront of the movement, how essential their work was, and yet how few of them got to be the voice or the face of it.
Nate Powell’s art from March was used for a Banned Books Week poster celebrating the freedom to read diverse books.
In fact, March is often held up as an example of freedom to read, as it shows up as a “Bonus Book” for the Banned Book Brigade, and is positioned in contrast to opponents of “critical race theory.”
Like the onset of the argument about “critical race theory,” Creators Assemble notes that “recent challenges [to comics and graphic novels] are alarming in frequency [and] severity and are becoming increasingly wide-spread” and requests that participants share their reading journey with the banned comic they send, through using the hashtag #DateaBannedComicBook.
In addition to signing up to participate in the Creators Assemble program, you can learn more about combatting censorship through participating in Banned Books Week, in the U.S., or Freedom to Read Week in Canada, both annual sets of events to raise awareness and celebrate great books, including comics.
Between recent bans of Maus and the persistent challenges to graphic novels for kids that depict queer experiences, comics remain at the forefront of many conversations about censorship. In fact, the most challenged book of 2021 in the U.S. was Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir.
If the Creators Assemble program can enable more people to read great books like March and gets more people talking about book banning, then it’s a win.
