Lesson 2: Introducing John Lewis

Have students get out their copies of March: Book One. Introduce this graphic memoir as the anchor text for the unit. Clarify that this is a first-person personal testimony in which John Lewis shares his own story to ensure his experiences during the Civil Rights Movement become part of our civic memory. Describe how this format uses the interplay of text and visual art to communicate meaning. In a graphic memoir, the illustrations don’t just “show” the story; they provide emotional weight, pacing, and subtext that words alone might miss.

Say these Directions: As you read this graphic memoir, pay attention to the gutter, which is the space between panels in a graphic text. In a graphic novel, the gutter is where you infer what happens between one panel and the next. As you move from one frame to another, imagine the action or time that may have passed. This means reading becomes an active investigation in which you think about how each image connects to the next to help you understand the full chain of events in the story.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Observe the cover and flip through the pages of March. As you look through the text, record your thinking in the Notice, Wonder, Connect graphic organizer. Write what you notice about the images and text, questions you have, and any connections you can make based on what you see.

In the remaining five minutes, bring the class back together, and invite volunteers to share ideas.

As students share, instruct the class to pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers. Instead of just sharing their own thoughts, students should respond to a peer’s observation.

Part A: Introducing John Lewis (RI.8.1, RI.8.3) (20 minutes)

Transition students into pairs, and distribute one of the following articles to each pair.

• “The Boy From Troy—How John Lewis Empowered America”

• “Rep. John Lewis: An Oral History of Selma and the Struggle for the Voting Rights Act”

Assign each pair one of the following excerpts from the article distributed to them:

• “The Boy From Troy” - Beginning of article to the paragraph ending, “Once they were, Harbour would leave the cell with one less hero to worship and one more man to call his friend.”

• “Rep. John Lewis” - Beginning of the article to the paragraph ending, “The leaders of the SCLC asked me to lead with Hosea.”

Close Read & Annotation

Say these Directions: Read your assigned excerpt with your partner. As you read, annotate the text by identifying John Lewis’s beliefs and values, as well as the obstacles he faced and examples of who he is as a person. After reading, discuss the question provided to help deepen your understanding of John Lewis.

• Ask: What are you learning about John Lewis and how he became a catalyst for social change?

  • John Lewis’s story shows how one person’s experiences can help expose an unfair system and motivate others to act. In the excerpt, he describes how people faced major barriers to voting and how organizers kept returning, training, and marching anyway. As more people witnessed the intimidation and violence used to stop peaceful protests, the story spread through national news coverage and drew wider support. That public attention helped push legal action and policy change, showing how he was able to work with others to move an issue from local injustice to national reform.

Part B: Introducing Performance Task Showcase (RI.8.1) (10 minutes)

Distribute the Unit 8.1 Performance Task to students. Keep students in their partners from the previous activity. Explain to students that this is the task they will complete during the Showcase at the end of the unit.

Say these Directions: Independently read the Unit 8.1 Performance Task description carefully so you understand what you will be expected to do and how your work throughout the unit will help you prepare for this final task.

Say these Directions: With your partner, review the Showcase Performance Task again. As you read, annotate the task by focusing on the key expectations, the steps you will need to complete, and the evidence you will need to gather throughout the unit to complete the task.

• Ask: What will you need to do to be successful on the performance task?

  • We will need to write about a Civil Rights event. We will need to create a multimedia cover for our brief.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: Discuss the following closing question using the Think-Pair-Share protocol with a partner:

• What did you learn about John Lewis from the text you read? Use at least two pieces of evidence to support your ideas.

  • I learned that Lewis met Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders early on when he was only 17 years old. I learned that he was a part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and helped organize voting rights protests.

Students read their independent reading book for 20 minutes and complete a reading log entry.