By Ginger Young, Founder and Executive Director
We start this week mourning the loss of Congressman John Lewis. This is a perfect moment to revisit his 2016 acceptance of the National Book Award. I cannot hear him say “I love books” without getting emotional:
I have been feeling special gratitude to Congressman Lewis this summer. A month ago, a friend of Book Harvest donated 10 copies of the March Trilogy, the graphic novel series that tells Congressman Lewis’s inspiring life story.
The very first readers to harvest the trilogy from our Grab & Go program were two sisters; their mom sent this photo to us. I think the joy and pride on their faces says it all.
I of course was eager to share this photo with the donor of the books. Here was her response:
I am so thrilled that these girls received the books! I know we have some future Congressmen and Congresswomen in the Triangle right now; future non-profit executives and civil rights activists and community organizers, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, teachers, artists, musicians and others who are going to find a way to change the world. Hopefully they keep seeing messages that they can be the hero of the story. 🙂
That is why we do what we do.
Thank you, Congressman Lewis, for heeding your teacher who told you, “Read, my child, read!” Your life story, and your heroic example of moral courage and good trouble, will live on in the imaginations and aspirations of legions of young people. May we all keep reading – inspired by you and in honor of you.
Would you like to donate the March Trilogy to our readers? You can purchase copies and have them shipped directly to our office through our wishlist at The Regulator Bookshop.