UPDATE: 2022/09/27 18:12 EST BY JIM JOHNSON
Response From Allegheny County Jail
The Allegheny County Jail has contacted CBR and denied the graphic novels mentioned in this article have been banned by the jail, stating the facility "recognizes that they are important to the civil rights experience and have added both Run and March to our eBook catalogue."
March, the trilogy of graphic novels chronicling the late Congressman John Lewis' Civil Rights activism, has been banned in one Pennsylvania institution -- and the series' co-author has called out books' ban -- and its timing.
"Kicking off #bannedbooksweek with the news that Allegheny County Jails in Pennsylvania banned March and Run from their facilities over the weekend is a heck of a way to start," tweeted Andrew Aydin, who co-wrote the March trilogy -- and its single-volume sequel Run -- with Rep. Lewis. Nate Powell illustrated the first trilogy, with Powell and L. Fury both handling the art on Run.
"Keep speaking up and speaking out, friends," Aydin added.
Aydin's tweet was in response to a thread by activist Tanisha Long, who brought to light a list titles banned by the jail that included the graphic novels. "Run and March were recently refused," Long reported. "What is it about the Civil Rights Movement that the Allegheny County Jail wants to keep incarcerated people from reading?"
The Story of Rep. John Lewis' March
Banned Books Week is an annual awareness initiative drawing attention to institutions banning certain books, urging these works to instead be openly read and promoted even as they're being challenged. The event typically takes place during the final week of September. The initiative was formed in the 1980s in response to the restricting and outright banning of books by schools, libraries, and other public institutions.
Published in 2013, 2015 and 2016, March: Book One, Book Two and Book Three respectively tell the life story of Rep. Lewis beginning with his childhood years in rural 1940's Alabama. The graphic novels follow Lewis' struggles with racial discrimination in the segregated South, and his subsequent activism for equal rights, including his historic peaceful march in 1965 in Selma, AL. The violent response by police, however, caused that day to become known as "Bloody Sunday," and was a pivotal moment that turned the tide of the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
All three volumes were widely praised and won numerous awards. March sequel Run, published in 2021, follows the events in Congressman Lewis' life after the passage of the American Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. Aydin completed the script after Rep. Lewis' passing in 2020.
Aydin served as Rep. Lewis' congressional aide and social media coordinator during his time in Congress. The pair had planned on a second volume of Run, but Aydin has stated that Congressman Lewis' death has put the likelihood of that next volume in doubt.
Source: Twitter