Read ‘The Montgomery Story’ Online

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, here is a link to the online version of Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, a comic book that was originally published in 1957 by a group called the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The comic tells the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and there’s a section in the back where Martin Luther King, Jr., explains how nonviolent resistance works. It’s a “how-to” article that is still relevant today.

Today is also a good day to read (or re-read) Rep. John Lewis’s graphic memoir of the Civil Rights Movement, March. When I spoke to Lewis around the time the first book came out, he told me he was inspired by the Montgomery Story comic. Indeed, his book expands on it, not only telling the story of the fight against segregation but also giving an inside look at the intense planning and preparation that went into each campaign. As I wrote in my review of Book Two,

It’s easy to think of the Civil Rights movement only in terms of its triumphs — the desegregation of the lunch counters, Rosa Parks getting back on the bus, Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to cheering throngs on a sunlit day in Washington, D.C. It’s harder to think of the struggles that went before, the evil that existed in people’s hearts and the strength it took to fight against it. In March, Lewis and his co-writer Andrew Aydin not only tell that story, they show how it was done. It’s not just history, it’s also a guidebook for those who would make history again. It’s not just a good book. It’s an essential book.

Top Shelf, the publisher of March, also offers print and digital versions of The Montgomery Story for sale, either on its own or as a digital bundle with March, Book One.

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