“The Big Six+” Martin Luther King, Jr. – Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) James Farmer – Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) John Lewis – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) A. Philip Randolph* – Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Roy Wilkins – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Whitney Young – National Urban League Dorothy Height* – National Council of Negro Women
What I Want You To Remember of the men and women who made up The Big Six of Civil Rights leadership in the late 50’s and 60’s, only John Lewis – now Representative John Lewis (D-GA) – remains to tell the first person tale of struggle and achievement. At age 75, he is looking to leave an account of those times for future generations…to instruct them, to inspire them and to motive them to continue the struggle for equality in society and under the law…His vehicle for this message? Graphic novels. No, these are nothing like your childhood comic books featuring fictional superheroes. These are a fusion of narrative and images which speak to facts and incidents which occurred during the early years leading up to the March on Washington.
The history-based autobiographic novels (produced by Top Shelf Productions), March: Book One and March: Book Two (with March: Book Three coming soon) are co-authored by Andrew Aydin and drawn by award-winning artist Nate Powell. On its debut, Book One hit #1 on The New York Times best sellers list (Paperback Graphic Books) and currently ranks at a respectable #5 some 18 months later. That such a format should connect with young people comes as no surprise to Lewis. After all, it was a 10-cent, 1950s graphic novel/comic book titled Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story which inspired him to join the movement and changed the course of his life.
Representative Lewis spoke at San Francisco State recently at the invitation of the Ethnic Studies department and the Associated Student, Inc. He spoke about his childhood and his first experience with color barriers in the cities: “White Only” and “Black Only” signs. So he asked his mother, father and older relations about them. They told him, “That’s the way it is. Don’t get in the way. Don’t get in trouble.” He recalled going to the theater downtown and being directed into the balcony area while all the white children were seated on the main level. He said, “I didn’t like it. I wanted to do something about it.”
