Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and congressional staffer Andrew Aydin are coming to the University of Maryland on Oct. 12 to discuss their award-winning book, March: Book Three.
The graphic novel was selected as this university’s First Year Book for the 2017-18 academic year. Each First Year Book is chosen to engage students, faculty and staff in a topic of national importance, according to its website.
The book is the third in a graphic novel series that illustrates Lewis’ involvement in the civil rights movement.
[Read more: Nikky Finney, First Year Book author, spreads message on campus]
“At a time when our entire campus community is working to affirm our core values of unity and respect, March: Book Three shows us all how looking to the past for guidance can help make changes for good today and in the future,” Provost Mary Ann Rankin said in a news release. “I look forward to the thought-provoking discussions that March will prompt in our community.”
[Read more: Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer will be at Trump’s inauguration. More than 60 lawmakers won’t.]
March: Book Three won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2016 — it is the first graphic novel to ever receive the award.
Lewis, a representative for Georgia’s fifth district, will speak at the Memorial Chapel at 7 p.m. Students, faculty and staff can pick up a free ticket with their university ID beginning Oct. 9 in the Stamp Student Union ticket office.
“It is my hope that people today will see that, in another time, in another period, when we saw the need for people to speak up, to organize, to mobilize, and to do something about injustice, we came together,” Lewis said of the trilogy in an August 2016 interview with MTV.
