It was a highly emotional night for civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis-D/GA at the recent National Book Awards. Lewis snagged the honors for the novel novel, March: Book Three — the third installment of an autobiographical graphic series about his well documented experiences during the civil rights era. Lewis, shared the prize for young people’s literature with collaborators Andrew Aydin, 32, and artist Nate Powell, 38.
During his acceptance speech, Lewis emotionally recalled his poor upbringing in Georgia when he said they “didn’t have may books at home.”
The veteran lawmaker teared up when he talked about how in 1965, at the age of 16, he went to the public library with his siblings and cousins to try to get a library card and were told that the library was for “whites only.”
Watch:
Lewis’ collaborators and artist Nate Powell, 38 and 32-year old congressional staffer Andrew Aydi, helped create a acclaimed 3-part series. It was a comic book about Martin Luther King Jr. that propelled Lewis into the Civil Rights Movement.
Source: AURN
