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As the "March" trilogy rockets to the top of Amazon's bestseller list buoyed by a feud between its memoirist, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and President-elect Donald Trump, the congressman is optimistic that more members of a new generation will now come to comprehend how so many sacrificed much for civil rights.
During a week bookended by Martin Luther King Day and the Women's March on Washington on Saturday, Lewis — the surviving member of the "Big Six" civil-rights leaders — tells The Washington Post via email that the lessons of his graphic-novel trilogy remain as relevant as ever.
"It is my hope that readers understand we were committed to the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence," Lewis says. "We were willing to suffer beatings, to be arrested, to go to jail for what we believed in."
Lewis says he doesn't want to simply teach the rising generation; he wants to inspire them to speak out in an America where voting rights are still challenged.
"I'm hopeful," he says, "that young people can see another generation that acted in a peaceful, nonviolent fashion and never gave up."
The congressman is gratified by the boost in book sales, but is focused on what work he needs to do doing forward.
Lewis also spoke Monday in Miami to a scholarship breakfast for the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project, telling the young members of his assembled audience that they were "more than lucky" to grow up in a nation molded by King's sacrifices.
"March," the graphic-novel trilogy co-authored by Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell, depicts not only the Freedom Rides and Selma marches of the '60s, including "Bloody Sunday," but also Lewis' meetings and protests alongside King, including the 1963 March on Washington. Lewis first met King while still a teenager who King's leadership hoped might help integrate Southern schools.
On Friday, Lewis told "Meet the Press" that he did not view Donald Trump as a "legitimate" president in light of Russia's actions during the election. President-elect Trump responded with a series of tweets that characterized the civil-rights hero as a man of "all talk" and no action or results.
Lewis is one of more than 40 Democratic lawmakers who have vowed not to attend Friday's inauguration.
Amid the resulting feud, sales of Lewis' books spiked, with the "March" trilogy set (IDW) still at No. 1 on Amazon as of Tuesday morning, with all three books in the set among Amazon's top 50. "March: Book Three" won the National Book Award last year — the first graphic novel to do so.
Powell, the "March" artist, says that public response to their work in the wake of the Trump feud left him "energized."
"We were shown a massive outpouring of support for what we're at risk of losing — history, context, principled discourse," Powell tells The Post. "I think a lot of people felt less alone in their indignation" as a result of Lewis' remarks.
"Benefiting materially from it all didn't sit well with me unless I could use that momentum in a positive, constructive way," Powell continues, "so I'm choosing to donate a big chunk of the weekend's royalties to organizations working for justice, equality, and peace."