Civil rights pioneer and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia has signed a publishing agreement with Top Shelf Production, which will publish March, a first hand graphic novel account Lewis’ lifelong struggle for human and civil rights. The graphic novel, which Lewis is writing with his Congressional aide Andrew Aydin, is slated for publication by Top Shelf in 2012.

 

John Lewis began organizing sit-in demonstrations in 1959 in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961 he was beaten and jailed for his participation in the “Freedom Rides” that were attempting to desegregate interstate bus terminals in the South. From 1963-1966 Lewis was Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the height of the struggle for civil rights. He coordinated the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 and he led the voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama that was attack by Alabama State Troopers on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” March, which is Lewis' personal story, will also be a history of the civil rights movement itself.

 

Despite being arrested over 40 times, physically assaulted and severely injured Lewis remained unwavering in his commitment to non-violence. He has served as the Congressional Representative from Georgia’s 5th District since 1986.