Social Justice Reading Club Event to Focus on the Late Rep. John Lewis’ ‘March: Book One’

“Sometimes I hear people saying nothing has changed…come and walk in my shoes.” –Rep. John Lewis on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington (Aug. 28, 2013).

An upcoming virtual panel event will focus on the life of the late Georgia congressman Rep. John Lewis from his childhood in Alabama to his lifelong fight for racial justice.

Gumberg Library and the Center for Engaged Teaching and Research will co-present the fall 2020 Social Justice Reading Club (SJRC) Thursday, Nov. 5, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. via Zoom.

This semester’s featured book, March: Book One, is the first volume in a graphic trilogy authored by Lewis, co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell. A limited number of free copies of March: Book One are available through Gumberg Library.

Conversation will center around the text of March: Book One, what it was like to work alongside Lewis and his visit to Pittsburgh on Oct. 8, 2016, with remembrances by ToonSeum President Marcel Walker and Pittsburgh-based artist and curator Dr. Sylvia Rhor Samaniego, director of the University Art Gallery at the University of Pittsburgh.

Additional panelists include Dr. Robin Chapdelaine, assistant professor of history, and William Generett Jr., vice president of community engagement. Dr. Jessica Mann, assistant vice president of community engagement, will moderate the event.

“The SJRC brings people together to engage in meaningful dialogue around a good book. In selecting March: Book One for our fifth book discussion, we not only celebrate the life and legacy of Rep. John Lewis through his own words, but also recognize the importance of his messages about equality and democracy,” said Dr. Sara Baron, University librarian. “It is our hope that the March conversation will educate, enlighten and inspire the Duquesne community with agency to enact ‘good trouble’ in the spirit of Rep. Lewis.”

 All are invited to participate in this uplifting post-election panel on the life and enduring legacy of Rep. John Lewis.

Registration is required for the discussion. Visit the Social Justice Reading Club event website for more information, to reserve a book and to RSVP. Attendees will receive a Zoom link via email on the day of the discussion.