Read an Excerpt From the Next Installment of John Lewis’ Graphic-Novel Memoir

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) in his offices in the Canon House office building on March 17, 2009, in Washington, D.C. Credit - Jeff Hutchens—Getty Images

Before Congressman John Lewis’ death in 2020, the longtime legislator and civil rights leader embarked on a project to turn his life story into a graphic memoir. The first installment, the award-winning trilogy March, took readers up to the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Now, the newly released Run: Book One—by Lewis and his longtime collaborator Andrew Aydin, with art by Nate Powell and L. Fury—picks up the tale.

Read more: See an excerpt from Lewis’ previous graphic memoir, March: Book Three

By the middle of 1966, Lewis had lost his position as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, as the group moved in a more militant direction with Stokely Carmichael at its head. After so many years devoted to the organization, Lewis felt at sea…

Read more: Why John Lewis Kept Telling the Story of Civil Rights, Even Though It Hurt

Read more: ‘We Were the Sum Total of Our Work.’ Activists Recall What It Was Like to Organize With John Lewis in the 1960s

Excerpt from the new book RUN: Book One (Abrams ComicArts) by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin. Copyright © 2021 by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin. Used by permission of Abrams ComicArts, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. All rights reserved.