>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
>> We have a wonderful program planned for you today,
and we're doing it with one of our long-time partners,
Everybody Wins DC, a program I've known
about for a long time and really admire.
This is part of their career literacy series
in which they select a partner for an event
and provide everyone with a free book.
I want to take just a moment to thank our co-sponsor,
Everybody Wins, and I'd also
like to introduce their new executive director, Molly Teas.
Molly.
[ Applause ]
Welcome, and thank you, and I know you're going to take Everybody Wins
to new heights, so we're just delighted you're here.
Thanks to Everybody Wins.
You all are going to get a copy
of the national book award-wining "March" the third.
I hope I get one too.
It's a graphic novel by Congressman Lewis and his digital director
and policy advisor, Andrew Aydin.
So together they have written a fascinating account
of the civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
Also with us today, and this is a real treat,
from WAMU Radio is long-time talk show host Kojo Nnamdi.
We're very lucky-- yes.
[ Applause ]
We're very fortunate to have him here today and taking time
out of his very busy schedule, and he is going to moderate our question
and answer period, which is when you all will have the opportunity
to ask questions.
The program is being recorded, so please wait
for a microphone before you ask your question.
And now I want to go off script for just two minutes.
The first thing is, I just saw the wonderful PBS documentary
about the life of Congressman Lewis.
It's really unbelievable, and one of the things that he talks
about in the documentary is the great civil rights icon, Rosa Parks.
And I want you to know that we,
the Library of Congress has the Rosa Parks papers
in our collection, and they're all online.
You can go to our website, LOC.gov, and you can get all of,
you can see all of Rosa Parks' papers, and they are amazing.
The second thing I want to say is that I was in Orlando in June
when Congressman Lewis spoke at a memorial service for the victims
of those killed in the nightclub in Orlando, and Congressman Lewis,
I have to tell you, it was one
of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard, and I just want
to thank you for all you do, and I'm just really grateful.
So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Kojo,
and have a wonderful time, and thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Thank you all for coming.
The third installment in the March trilogy written
by Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell,
has won a lot of awards--
the National Book Award for Young People's Literature,
the Coretta Scott King Book Award, the Michael L. Printz Award,
the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award,
the Young Adult Library Services Association Award for Excellence
in Nonfiction, the Walter Dean Myers Award
for Outstanding Children's Literature Young Adult Category--
and that's just to name a few.
It's a best seller that has helped to further break down the barriers
between graphic novels or comics and powerful work of nonfiction,
and so I am delighted to talk with the Congressman
and Andrew Aydin today to talk about it.
Could you please welcome Congressman John Lewis.
[ Applause ]
And Andrew Aydin.
[ Applause ]
Congressman Lewis, I'll start with you.
You've been tireless in your work not just on this book but in talking
about it with students, with librarians, and journalists,
and you gave a very moving speech
in accepting the National Book Award late last year.
What does the recognition this work has received mean to you?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well thank you.
First of all, Kojo, it's good to see you brother.
Always good to see you.
And thank you for all the good
and great things that you continue to do.
It's good to be here at the Library of Congress, good to see all
of you beautiful, handsome young people.
You look so wonderful.
You look so smart.
When I go and speak about this book, reread the book, turn the pages,
and see certain drawings and images, it takes me back
to another part of my life.
You know from reading "March" book one, book two, and book three,
I grew up in rural Alabama, 50 miles from Montgomery,
outside of a little place called Troy.
So [inaudible] received [inaudible] along with Andrew Aydin
and Nate Powell, it was too much.
We stood together, and I was, I was lost for words.
It took me back to rural Alabama in 1956 when I was 16 years old
with some of my brothers and sisters and cousins.
We went to a little library to try to get a library card,
trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian
that the library was for whites only and not for colors.
I didn't go back to that library for many, many years later,
but this time I'm in the Congress for a book signing.
So hundreds of blacks and white citizens showed up,
and after the book signing, after we had some refreshment,
they gave me a library card.
And to work with Andrew, who is so gifted and so smart,
and Nate Powell, it's been a work of love.
And to see young people standing in line to get the book,
to get the book signed, and to take a seat in the middle of the floor
at a table, a desk, and read the book, and as I travel
around America, different places, people come up with the book,
said I'm buying this book for my son or my brother, my nieces,
my nephews, so I think it's a good thing.
We all should read.
Books are powerful.
They can take us places that we dare to go.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: I'm glad you finally got your library card.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Yes.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Before we get to the third book in the series,
let's talk a little bit about why this project took the shape
that it did as a graphic novel.
Comics actually have some ties to civil rights movement.
When did you first encounter a comic that spoke
to the civil rights movement?
>> In late 1957 or either early 1958,
I remember reading a comic book called Martin Luther King Jr.
and the Montgomery Story.
It sold for ten cents, and Andrew would tell you through his research,
he discovered that Dr. King helped edit this book.
This book became like a road map for those of us that got involved
in the American civil rights movement.
It told the story of Montgomery.
It spoke about the way of peace, the way of love, the philosophy
for nonviolence, how people organize, how people walked,
shared rides in cars, church buses, [inaudible] rides,
segregated buses in Montgomery.
In Montgomery during the '50's,
black and white people couldn't be seated together on a city bus.
Even here in Washington, DC, in 1961 during the freedom rise,
black people and white people couldn't be seated together leaving
Washington to travel through Virginia or North Carolina
or South Carolina or Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi.
So public transportation, whether the train or buses, had been a means
of carrying the story in the way of the civil rights movement.
[Inaudible] those signs that said white waiting, colored waiting,
white men, colored men, white women, colored women.
And I say to young people all the time,
growing up today you won't see those signs on a bus
or on a train or a waiting room.
The only place that you'll see those signs today will be in a book,
in a museum, or on a video.
They're gone, and it's my hope they will never, ever return.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Andrew Aydin, despite the fact
that the Congressman encountered that graphic novel of comic
about Dr. King when he was just 17 years old,
you still had a little trouble convincing your colleagues
and even the Congressman himself to write a graphic novel.
Why did you think this was the right format for this project?
>> Andrew Aydin: I grew up in Atlanta.
The Congressman has been my Congressman
since I was three years old.
I went to Atlanta Public Schools, and I heard the story
of the Civil Rights Movement over and over and over again.
I heard it in documentaries.
I heard it in books.
I heard people tell the stories.
But to me, I'd grown up reading comics.
It was sort of my salvations, my refuge, right.
My father left when I was four or five years old,
and it was sort of where I turned.
I wanted stories of heroes who wanted justice
because it was the right thing to do.
And that summer [loud tone noise], should I bebop that?
[laughter] That summer of the campaign in 2008,
Barack Obama was sweeping through the democratic primaries,
people in politics were fundamentally reevaluating the way
in which they communicate with young people but with everyone,
whether it's the internet, the visual literacy that comes
with that, or simply just how you talk to people,
like what we're willing to talk about.
And so as it came down to the internet campaign
and the Congressman tells me about Martin Luther King
and the Montgomery story, I mean these were two things
that were incredibly important in my life.
Here I'd spent the whole summer watching John Lewis tell these
stories that I had never heard growing up in Atlanta.
The story of SNCC, the story of the young people,
which was so much different than the story I had always been told,
and at the same time the Congressman was telling me
that he read a comic book when he thought about joining the movement.
I mean, the 24-year-old nerd just kind of exploded, you know.
And it felt like it was okay to be me, right.
Like oh, maybe it wasn't so weird for me to like comics after all.
Maybe it was all the other people who put them down who were wrong.
And so when I try to think, you know, there should be a comic book
about John Lewis' life, it was in a sense
to show everyone what I had just seen that summer,
what I had witnessed first-hand.
And hearing John Lewis tell the story, seeing him acted out,
seeing him in front of you, that was a big part of it for me,
and so trying to find a way to capture that experience and put it
down on paper, words alone could not do it the justice
that it needed, so--
>> Kojo Nnamdi: What do you make of the shift and the perception
of graphic novels that the "March" trilogy has been a part
of and maybe a leader in?
>> Andrew Aydin: I think we broke the publishing system a little bit,
and I think in a sense "March" is putting it back together stronger
than it was before.
I don't think we set out to do that, per se.
We set out to tell John Lewis' story.
We set out to tell it in a way that would reach more people
than had ever been reached by this story.
But the result is, is I think comics are coming
of age because of the Internet.
Because like all you all, you all are digital natives.
You grew up on the Internet.
You communicate through memes, right?
Like they don't admit it, but like you have whole conversations with,
you know, success kid, and everything else.
And so, yeah, yeah, somebody's [inaudible] okay.
And so for this generation, comics is there natural language.
It is graphic narrative.
It is, it is sequential story telling.
It is just simply how this generation speaks to each other.
And so it was only a matter of time, I think what we're most fortunate
about is that it was John Lewis' story that broke down that barrier.
It was a little bit ahead of its time, and so it was right there
when it needed to be there as opposed to, you know,
we could all be celebrating the, I don't know, the great puppy wars,
or something, you know, that really wouldn't resonate with us the way
that John Lewis' story does and that needs
to be immortalized the way John Lewis' story does.
And so I think it was a combination of being just a little bit ahead
of our time and being at the right place for this generation to be able
to embrace it because it's their language.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Congressman Lewis, did it take a lot of convincing
to get you involved in writing what [inaudible].
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, Andrew, I think probably would say,
well, it took a little time.
But he didn't give up, you know.
He just said, Congressman, you should write a comic book.
I said, oh, maybe.
He came back again, and I don't know how many times he came back.
>> Andrew Aydin: Who's counting?
>> Rep. John Lewis: We didn't keep count.
[laughter] And I said, I finally said something like, yes,
if you do it with me, and the rest is history.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Indeed, a remarkable history.
This trilogy begins as a reflection on the eve
of President Obama's inauguration,
a reflection on the work you did during the civil rights movement,
and it ends more to come here.
Are we in a period now where we're seeing
that there's more work to be done here?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, I think we are.
I just left an unbelievable meeting when I go enter in on a discussion
about it, but I think in America today right now people are saying
where are we going as a nation and as a people?
Are we going backward?
Are we going to stand still?
Or are we going to go forward?
I think [inaudible] tell us all that we've come a distance,
we've made a lot of progress, but there are forces that want
to slow us down or take us back, and we would like for people
to be hopeful, to be optimistic, and to understand that we're one people,
that it doesn't matter whether we're black or white, Latino,
Asian American, or Native American.
We all live in the same house.
Not just American house, but the world house.
There was a man by the name of A. Philip Randolph that we speak
about because he was the man who called together the march
on Washington, and he used to say from time to time,
maybe our foremothers and our forefathers all came
to this great land in different ships,
but we're all in the same boat now.
We have to look out for each other and care for each other.
And Dr. King said on one occasion, and he said it so beautifully,
that we must learn to live together as one family, as one people.
If not, [inaudible] as fools.
And I think this is message that we try to convey in "March."
That it's better to love.
It's better to abide by the principles and the philosophy
of nonviolence and never hate for hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: A. Philip Randolph was the head of the Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters, and as Congressman Lewis said,
he called the march on Washington together in 1963.
Andrew Aydin, as you were going through this process
with the Congressman, it gave you not only a perspective on his life,
but did it give you an additional perspective on history
that allows you to better interpret the present?
>> Andrew Aydin: Absolutely.
When we first debuted book one, we went to San Diego Comic-Con,
which is more of my people, right.
And so we'd start off, he'd give a little speech about, you know,
this is what my book is about, right?
And I asked, I said, have any of you guys watched Battlestar Galactica?
You know, it's Comic-Con, so every hand in the room went up.
And I said well then, you know, you'll remember all
of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.
And this was in 2013.
This was before Ferguson.
This was before Eric Garner.
This was before the election.
This was at a time when I think people thought it was going
to be quiet for a while.
But the more you understand about John Lewis' story and how much
of our politics today are a direct result from forces trying
to oppose the progress that he made, the more it seems
like an inevitable conflict was coming.
And at the same time, I hope we conveyed the optimism
that the activists today need, that the young people they need.
I'll often ask the question or pose it, you know, we have SCLC still.
We have the NAACP still.
We have the Urban League still.
What we don't have today is a student nonviolent
coordinating committee.
We don't have an organization of young people dedicate
to direct action that is completely staffed
and organized and run by young people.
And so when you look at it in that sort
of context today, history is your guide.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: What stood out to you
that maybe you didn't know about before.
I'll tell you what stood out to me when I read this.
I am, as many people know, from the Caribbean, and when I read
about an attorney who represented the Congressman early
in his [inaudible] named Alexander Looby, Alexander Looby it turned
out was from Antigua, West India.
That was like, whoa, I'm much more interested in this story now.
[laughter] Did you have those kinds of experiences, Andrew?
Who stood out to you that maybe you did not know about beforehand.
>> Andrew Aydin: There was just so many of them.
I mean in Nashville I had no idea
about Will Campbell or Kelly Miller Smith.
Many of the people that played such a formative role.
I mean Jim Lawson right off the bat.
I mean I'd heard about him and the Congressman has spoken about him,
but the extent of Reverend Lawson's role internet Civil Rights Movement
in and of itself have sort of been lost,
and I hope we've resurrected his contribution
because it is so powerful.
I mean he may be the most influential figure
on the movement behind Martin Luther King.
But it was things like Bayard Rustin, and you know,
I didn't know Strom Thurmond had outed him as a gay man on the floor
of the United States Senate.
And when you see people do something similar to that today,
it's hard not to feel as if they walk
in that legacy of Strom Thurmond.
Or in that vein, I mean I came to really appreciate the relationship
between A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin.
You know, Randolph actually threatened the first march
on Washington in 1941, and in effect made FDR blink and desegregate parts
of the military industrial complex.
And so when it was coming down to the end
of book two's research period, I read an interview from Rustin
and asked him, what was the most meaningful moment of your life,
and he said, you know, there was this moment at the end of the march
on Washington and he came back to the office
and he saw A. Philip Randolph looking at his sign,
and he started teasing him.
Hey boss, there's not a piece of trash
or garbage that's completely cleaned up, you know,
thinking it was a celebratory moment, and Randolph turned around,
and he had tears streaming down his face.
And he just grabbed Rustin and gave him a hug
and said, thank you Bayard.
And he said that was the most meaningful moment of his life,
and here it was buried in an interview and a textbook somewhere.
And I thought, what a privilege to be able to offer our own thank you
to him for his contribution, a thank you that was long, long overdue.
It's things like that.
>> Rep. John Lewis: I should say to the young people here,
when you pass through Union Station there's a bus, A. Philip Randolph,
who was this unbelievable man who was born in Jacksonville, Florida,
moved to New York City and became a champ in human rights, civil rights,
labor rights, and he had the ability to organize
and move people [inaudible] and just stated Presidents.
It was A. Philip Randolph that called that meeting
with President Kennedy when we had the first meeting
to discuss the possibility of a march on Washington.
And you speak about Z. Alexander Looby, amazing lawyer,
just an unbelievable human being, and we were sitting in and marching
as students, his home was bombed early one morning.
It destroyed part of his house.
His wife was knocked out of her bed.
It was near Fisk University, Meharry Medical School,
[inaudible] bomb his home, the Klan tried to kill him and destroy.
We made a decision to march when we heard about it,
like 6:30 in the morning.
We sent a telegram to the mayor of the city in Nashville saying
in effect, Mr. Mayor, meet us on the steps
of city hall at noon, and by noon--
>> Andrew Aydin: High noon, high noon.
Because you've been watching westerns.
>> Rep. John Lewis: That's right, high noon.
That's right, Andrew.
High noon.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: My favorite western.
>> Rep. John Lewis: And we had thousands and thousands
of young people, black and white, high school students,
colored students, parents, teachers, college professors,
and the mayor said, yes, I favor desegregation
at the lunch counters and in the restaurants.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: There's so much history packed into this trilogy,
so many names that jump out at you, Al Lowenstein, Ella Baker,
James Forman, Bob Moses, Fanny Lou Hamer.
Talk a little bit about any one of those people,
who our students here might not know of.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Andrew?
>> Andrew Aydin: I'd go with Ella Baker right off the bat.
I mean, she was the mother of the movement and is so pivotal
in a way that's not fully understood today, and I hope we conveyed
that as much as possible because she's one of those characters
that lives with you through all of the books.
She was there at the founding of SNCC, and she was there
at the founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
She was a keynote speaker at their political convention
in August of 1964.
She was so important, and I think one of the great tragedies
of the history that's been told thus far is
that women's roles during the movement have been marginalized,
and I think for us it was so important to correct that,
to show women like Fanny Lou Hamer and Ella Baker and Diane Nash
and Genevieve Hughes and everybody else who participated in one way
or the other because they so often were the ones
who did the nitty gritty.
They didn't push to be the one in the photograph.
They pushed to be the one who did the work,
who achieved the hardest part.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Fascinating.
When I first came to Washington among my mentors were people
who worked with the Congressman [inaudible], and so I knew all
of those names but didn't quite know the details
of the history of those individuals.
The trilogy helped me to understand that,
why my friends revered Ella Baker and why they revered Bob Moses
so much during those time.
But you two worked with illustrated Nate Powell on this series,
and his images are vivid, sometimes difficult to look at.
Congressman Lewis, was it difficult for you to think back to those times
and see them depicted in black and white on the pages of the series?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, yes, and it's still difficult today
when I pick up this book, this is book three, but book one
and book two, and see some of the images.
Sometimes I tear up.
Sometimes I cry.
There is an illustration in this book depicting me marching,
and I love it because I guess there's young people,
and I'm not that young anymore, but I did look so young, so young.
I had all of my hair, and I was a few pounds lighter,
and to see me with my backpack.
Back in 1965 we were attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery,
I thought we was going to be arrested and go to jail.
So I bought a backpack from an army surplus store, of all places,
and I wanted to have something to read while I was in jail, so I had,
I thought I was going to really go to jail, so I had two books.
I wanted to have something to eat, I had an apple and I had an orange.
Since I was going to be in jail with my friends and my colleagues,
I wanted to be able to brush my teeth,
so I had toothpaste and a toothbrush.
And when you look at book three and turn the page, Andrew you know,
I've told you this, I love that image of this strong,
young John Lewis getting ready to walk across that bridge.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: With an apple and an orange.
You know, reading these books, one discovers that you often went
against the grain of what others in the movement were doing or wanted
to do, skipping the signing ceremony for the civil rights act,
keeping the protests going when the so-called big fix asked you not to,
going ahead with the aforementioned Selma
to Montgomery march [inaudible] and SNCC were against it.
And you talk a lot about this idea of good trouble, about standing
up for what's right even when it's not popular, when it's not easy.
Where did you get that strength from?
What do you want these young people to know
about the notion of good trouble?
Maybe just as impatient, how do you know you're getting
into the good kind of trouble and not the bad kind?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, it's very simple.
When I was growing up and would visit the little town of Troy,
visit Montgomery, Troy's about ten miles from where I grew up.
You go downtown Troy, you see the signs that say white and colored,
to go to a movie on a Saturday afternoon,
all of us little black children had to go upstairs to the balcony,
and all of the white children went downstairs.
I would come home and ask my mother, my father,
my grandparents, why, why?
And they would say, that's the way it is, don't get in trouble.
But I heard of Rosa Parks when I was 15 years old,
and I met Rosa Parks when I was 17.
I heard of Dr. King when I was 15 years old,
and I met him when I was 18.
It changed my mind, and so I was inspired to get
in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble,
and I've been getting in trouble ever since.
It's very simple to me, when you see something that is not right,
not fair, not just, you have an obligation
to say something, to do something.
We cannot afford to be silent.
Because if we're silent, if you think you like being mistreated,
you have to resist, and say that's not right,
that's not fair, that's not just.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: For the students in this room, who live in the District
of Columbia, a city that has no voting license in Congress,
residents of whom many would like to see this as a state,
these young people may one day decide to be active now
and even more so when they reach voting age, what do you make
of these very fundamental questions that persist around the issue
of voting rights, not only in the district in a very vivid way,
but in a lot of jurisdictions in the United States when it comes
to adequate photo representation.
The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965?
[inaudible] is a resident of the District of Columbia.
>> Andrew Aydin: Yeah, I mean as a DC resident,
I think it's long overdue that we had full representation in Congress.
I don't understand why we can live in this city and pay taxes
in this city and, you know, it seems so often that the opponents
of voting rights are also the same people
who declare their rights based on how much taxes they pay.
And yet, here we are in the district, and we pay quite a bit,
and we don't have full representation.
I think for young people
in particular it's a tremendous opportunity for civil disobedience.
I'm just saying, don't tell your teachers.
[laughter] But I think we have to acknowledge the fact
that voting rights are under attack all across the country,
whether it is fictitious claims that millions
of people are voting illegally, which they're not.
Let's just say it, they're not.
Or the attempts to make it harder and more difficult
for people to register and vote.
Full disclosure, I worked on one of the campaigns in November,
and I was shocked to find that only one party has voter
protection teams.
The other party doesn't need them, their voters don't have any trouble,
and that was profound to me, that we could create a system that was
so lopsided in its advantages.
But when you work for John Lewis, it's much more than that.
It is about a fundamental American belief
that we are all created equal, and in that belief
that we are all given the right to vote as participants
in the American democracy, and when you work against that,
you work against what makes America strong and what has brought America
to the forefront of global power, and it makes America weak.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: For those of you in this room who may be thinking
of what your rights are, and you should be, you should know
that sitting in this room is the Attorney General of the District
of Columbia, so when this is over, you should go over
and have a chat with him.
[Inaudible], would you raise your hand, please.
Let us know who you are.
[ Laughter ]
Congressman Lewis, today we see a lot of energy, a lot of young people
who would like to effect change, but there have been those who say
that these current movements lack direction and they lack leadership
and cohesion, some of the things that people said
about SNCC back in 1960, as I recall.
What is your hope for what these books
and for what you can teach this younger generation
of activists and protesters.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, it is my hope
that these books would inspire another generation
but the special young people, the young, to learn the lessons
of the movement, what we did and what we tried to do
and how we succeeded, and to be hopeful, to be optimistic,
and to never give up, but hold onto your dreams.
It [inaudible] down to these books being a roadmap,
a blue print, to get in the way.
During the '60's, I got arrested a few times, 40 times,
and since I've been in Congress another five times.
My last arrest, this young man had to--
I left my money some place, so he had to lend me--
>> Andrew Aydin: I spotted you a few dollars.
>> Rep. John Lewis: A few dollars, to get out of, to be released.
The last arrest took place a short distance from here,
over on the Capitol grounds, where 200 people,
eight members of Congress, who were trying to get the Speaker
of the House to bring forth a comprehensive immigration
reform deal.
We had brought the bill to the floor of the House,
almost every single member on our side of the aisle would have voted
for it, and we would have picked up enough members from the other side,
and we would have passed it,
and President Barack Obama would have signed it into law.
It doesn't make sense for us to have millions of people,
especially young people, children, living in fear
that something is going to happen to them
or to their parents or grandparents.
We should set people on the path of citizenship.
When the Pope came and spoke to a [inaudible] session of the Congress,
he said we all were immigrants, we all come from some other place,
and that will probably be the great debate in the days to come.
And none of us are really free, and all of us are free.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Now it's time for you to ask questions.
I know there are those of you who have read, one, two,
or all books in the trilogy, so now is the time for you
to raise your hand, because if you don't, I will just keep talking more
and more and more and probably bore you to tears.
Anyone, oh, there's a hand raised up front here.
[ Background Noise ]
>> I didn't do--
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Stand up please so we can see you.
>> I didn't do research on you but was you born like around
when Martin Luther King was born, or is he older than you?
>> Kojo Nnamdi: When were you born in relation
to when Dr. King was born.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
was born in 1929, and I was born in 1940.
So in a sense, he was like a big brother.
[ Background Noise ]
I met him when I was 18 years old.
He changed my life.
Andrew would tell you that he called me the boy from Troy.
Probably in reading "March" some of you read when I was a little boy,
growing up on that farm, I wanted to be a minister,
and we used to raise chickens.
And with the help of my brothers and sisters and cousins,
we would gather all of our chickens together in the chicken yard,
like you are gathered right here in this room, and my brothers
and sisters and cousins would like [inaudible] around the chicken yard,
and I would start speaking or preaching, and when I looked back,
some of these chickens would bow their heads.
Some of the chickens would shake their heads.
They never quite said Amen.
[laughter] But I'm convinced that some of those chickens tended
to listen to me much better than some of my colleagues listen
to me today in the Congress.
And some of those chickens were just a little more productive,
at least they produced eggs,
and Drew didn't want me to tell that story.
>> Andrew Aydin: Well, we had to leave those lines out of the book.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: I found that to be one of the more fascinating parts
of the book, his relationship with the chickens, when he was talking
to the chickens and the chickens, he knew the chickens individually--
>> Andrew Aydin: By name, yeah.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: And after a point he didn't like the fact
that the chickens had to be killed in order to be eaten.
>> Rep. John Lewis: And I boycotted the meals.
I didn't like the fact that my mother and father wanted
to have some of those chickens for a meal,
and I got to know these chickens.
I told them to be quiet, not to make noise, not to fight,
for them to love each other.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Any other hands raised with questions?
Right down here.
[ Background Noise ]
>> So, actually last year our school went on a field trip to a bunch
of junior, or rangers' memorials all around, all around the south,
and so one of the places that we actually went to was Selma,
and we walked across the bridge that you walked across on, across on,
so could you tell us what some of your experiences were
when you crossed that bridge?
>> Kojo Nnamdi: When you crossed the bridge.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Yeah, in Selma, Alabama, like so many other parts
of the south, people of color could not register to vote
because of the color of their skin.
There were African American lawyers, doctors, teachers, housewives,
and farmers were told that they could not read or write well enough.
Sometimes people were asked to count the number of bubbles in a bar
of soap, the number of jelly beans in a jar.
One day more than 300 public school teachers left school, lined up,
and went down to the court house to receive a copy of the test.
The stood in line.
The registrar closed the office,
and they were denied the right to register to vote.
And a few days later as you saw maybe in the movie Selma,
a group of people marched, it was a protest, in the home town
of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr., Loretta Scott King,
and one protester was shot and later died at the local hospital in Selma.
Because of what happened to him, we made a decision to march
from Selma to Montgomery.
Six hundred of us in twos, orderly, peaceful, no one saying a word.
The night before the march, the local sheriff, he was a mean man,
really just mean, who wore a button on his left lapel that said never.
He carried an electric cow prodder, and he didn't use it on cows.
He used it on people.
He would push people.
He would beat people for exercising their constitutional right.
So on that bridge that Sunday, we got to the highest point
on the Edmund Pettus bridge, down below we saw a sea of blue,
Alabama state troopers, and we continued to walk.
We came within hearing distance.
A man spoke up and said I'm Major John Cloud
of the Alabama state troopers.
This is an unlawful march.
It will not be allowed to continue.
I give you three minutes to disperse and return
to your homes or to your church.
And a young man walking beside me, one of the leaders
from Dr. King's organization by the name of Jose Williams, said, Major,
give us a moment to kneel and pray.
And the Major said, troopers advance.
I said Major, may I have a word?
He said, there will be no word.
They came, beating us with night sticks, trampling with horses,
releasing their tear gas.
I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a night stick.
My legs went from under me.
I thought I saw death.
I thought I was going to die on that bridge.
I thought it was the last nonviolent protest.
And all these many years later, I don't recall how I made it back
across that bridge to the little church that we had left from,
but I remember being in the church and someone asked me
to say something, and I stood up and said something
like I don't understand it how President Johnson can send troops
to Vietnam but cannot send troops to Selma, Alabama, to protect people
who only desire to register to vote.
The next thing I knew, with 16 other people, we was transferred
to a little hospital where a group of nuns took care of us.
And last, just before the election, late last October,
I went to Rochester, New York, to campaign for one of my colleagues
in New York, they took me to the mother house there,
some of the nuns are retired, and I saw this stained-glass window
that had been in this hospital, it's now in Rochester, New York,
and some of the nuns that took care me, they was there.
They remembered me, and they started saying John, John, good to see you.
And we all cried together.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Andrew Aydin, one of the things that struck me most
in reading this trilogy was how John Lewis
and the other protesters trained themselves to respond nonviolently
to the most violent attacks by both civilians
and law enforcement officers.
You are even younger than I am.
How did that strike you?
>> Andrew Aydin: It felt like the most important factor we could
possibly convey.
I think many of us understand the broad strokes of civil disobedience.
Maybe we have read Thoreau or Emerson or something like that,
but really understanding the nitty gritty, the details,
the perseverance, and the self-control it takes
to be a successful protestor
or a successful activist using civil disobedience.
And over and over and over again as you read these texts,
as you read the accounts, the defining characteristic
of the most successful protest is how orderly
and how disciplined they were.
And so for us, showing that discipline is part
of the visual narrative of what allows it to be more successful
in the visual medium is showing that discipline, not just telling,
showing how much they had to endure,
whether it's the cigarettes being put out in your hair,
the hot coffee being poured down your back,
having you friends call you names.
It was the most important thing we could convey.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Any other questions from students here?
Right here.
Ma'am?
>> This question is for both of you all, you all say a lot
about positivity, so do you guys see similarities in today's actions
as far as protesting you did in your day?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, today, I see similarities.
The women marched just a few days, a few weeks ago, whether in Washington
or in Atlanta, around the nation, around the world,
people use the same techniques and tactics.
Some of the music was a little more upbeat, and music,
Andrew would tell you, research, music is very, very powerful.
I said on occasion, if it hadn't been for music,
the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.
It brought us together.
It created a sense of family, a sense of solidarity
that we we're all in this thing together, and sometimes when,
so during the freedom rides in 1961, when we were arrested in Jackson,
Mississippi, we filled the city jail, and later people kept coming.
We filled the county jail.
Then they took us to the heart
of the delta [inaudible] state penitentiary,
and the people would say, the guards, the jailers would say,
if you don't stop singing those songs,
we're going to take your mattress.
And people would make up songs.
Andrew probably, and maybe would sing one of them.
>> Andrew Aydin: So low you can't hear me.
>> Rep. John Lewis: But today you see people coming together
in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion.
I was so proud.
I marched with the people in Atlanta.
More than 63,000 people showed up.
And hundreds and thousands from Atlanta came to Washington.
And people showed up at the airport in an orderly,
peaceful, nonviolent fashion.
They learned they're starting the movement.
It was very similar.
Andrew, I know you have something to add.
[ Background Noise ]
>> Andrew Aydin: Well, I'm not going to sing, but I think when you talk
about creating the climate, creating the environment for change
to happen, music, pop culture, I think in this day and age we have
to look beyond [inaudible].
They play a role.
But at the end of the day people
with conscience coming together for a purpose.
I marched-- I'm going to blow out you all speakers at this rate.
I marched here in DC, and I've never seen anything quite like it.
I was at Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.
I staffed the Congressman that day.
I walked through the crowds.
It was peaceful, and it was optimistic,
but the sense of revolution wasn't--
in 2009, we thought we were finished.
Right. And that's why 2010 happened.
And that's what started this tumble, but what happened at the march,
the women's march, what's happened in the days and weeks since then,
it's not just about optimism, it's about a sense of duty,
that we all recognize maybe we didn't do as much
as we should have beforehand, but we all say
with a collective voice, it stops now.
We all have something to contribute, and we all will contribute.
I think that very much permeated that same feeling.
Maybe in the latter days, from what I understand,
it got lost in the freedom highs and things like that, but that sense
that we all have something to contribute, and that we will rage
against injustice, together, is the most powerful development
in my own life that I've ever witnessed of our society.
And I hope you're prepared because we need you next.
And it's not going to be easy.
I spent most of the time making "March" being afraid,
and the Congressman telling me, no, no, the best is yet to come.
I didn't know if we would finish it.
I didn't know if it would be any good.
I didn't know if I would do a good enough job honoring the
Congressman's story.
We're telling the story of all the people whose stories needed
to be told.
And that was just one small piece, so it's okay for you to be afraid,
but you got to be hopeful, and you got to understand that the progress
of this country is on your shoulders next.
And my generation, Kojo's generation,
and the Congressman's generation,
we're doing everything we can right now, but we need you.
[ Background Noise ]
>> Kojo Nnamdi: Anyone else?
We have time for one more question,
and needless to say there are four hands raised.
Young man?
>> Hi. This is just for Mr. Lewis,
but what do you think was the most important thing
that came out of the march?
>> Rep. John Lewis: Out of the march?
>> Yes.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Well, because of the march, because of the march,
excuse me, because of the march,
I've been talking too much, I'm losing my voice.
>> Andrew Aydin: Drink some water.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Thank you.
I was in a committee meeting today.
I had holler a little bit.
>> Andrew Aydin: Good trouble.
>> Rep. John Lewis: I had to preach a little.
[laughter]
>> Andrew Aydin: I got it.
>> Rep. John Lewis: Thank you.
[ Background Noise ]
The march from Selma to Montgomery gave us the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
It educated, it inspired so many people to stand out,
to say to Congress, say to the President of the United States,
we need to pass a Voting Rights Act.
Because of what happened on Bloody Sunday, March 7th,
the President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, President Johnson,
came and spoke to [inaudible] session
of the Congress and introduced a bill.
We completed the march, and on August 6, 1965,
the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.
Hundreds and thousands and millions of people were registered
to vote for the first time.
If it hadn't been for the Voting Rights Act,
I'm not so sure President Carter and President Clinton
and President Obama would have been elected President.
And I probably wouldn't be in Congress,
and many other local elected officials, black, white, Latinos,
Asian American, wouldn't be in the Congress,
but we still have a distance to go
because the Supreme Court almost destroyed the Voting Rights Act two
years ago.
So we still have work to do.
>> Kojo Nnamdi: And it rests on the shoulders
of your generation to some extent.
I'm afraid that's all the time we have.
But thank you to Karen Jaffe [phonetic] and the entire team here
at the Library of Congress' Young Readers [inaudible].
[ Applause ]
Thank you to librarian of Congress,
Carla Hayden [phonetic], get well soon.
[ Applause ]
Thank you to everybody in DC for bringing in this wonderful audience
and for sending them home with copies of the book.
[ Applause ]
And last but obviously not least, thanks to Andrew Aydin
and Congressman John Lewis for sharing their story.
[ Applause ]
I'll close with the words of the later writer Frantz Fanon,
who wrote, "It is the role of each generation out of relative obscurity
to discover its missions and either fulfill it or betray it."
Go forth and fulfill your mission.
Thank you very much for being here.
[ Applause ]
And that's it.
>> Okay.
[ Background Noise ]
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at LOC.gov.
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