If it hadn’t been for my belief in God Almighty, the civil rights movement and my own participation would have been like a bird without wings.Īn illustration inside “March: Book Three.” Photo courtesy of Top Shelf ProductionsĪydin: “March” in general and “March: Book Three” specifically showed what an important role the church played in giving the movement a home from which to organize. Lewis: The prayers, the songs, the hymns fortified me, made me stronger, gave me the power and the ability, the capacity to keep moving, to pick ’em up and put ’em down. What difference did they make for you personally?

Q: The book series often talks about how prayers and hymns were used ahead of and during the civil rights marches. … We felt like God Almighty was on our side. It was the music of the church that lifted us, that carried us. We kept going, we never gave up, we never gave in, we never became bitter or hostile. Lewis: “Book Three” tells a story how people kept going, how people never gave up or gave in, in spite of the bombing of a church, the beating on the bridge as we had left church to march all the way from Selma to Montgomery. How does “March: Book Three” deal with issues of faith? Q: Representative Lewis, in an earlier book of this series we read that you were asked by church leaders to tone down your speech at the 1963 March on Washington. This interview was edited for length and clarity.

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.

March lewis