Book Group Discussion
March Book trilogy was written by congressman John Lewis. He is an American icon and one of the key figures on the civil rights movement. Lewis was the youngest leader of the civil right movements and he lead a lot of Freedom Rides that challenged the segregation cross the south. He was always being arrested and beaten up but that didn’t stop him for fighting for what he believes in. I read the third book of the series and it starts with with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, which kills the lives of four young girls. It ends up with with the 1965 Voting Rights Act being signed into legislature.
Through the book, I walked step by step with the historical events that happened and it shaped our concept of the civil rights. The book shifts between the events smoothly and fun to read and keep up, I don’t think that I would keep that same interest in the events if it was a documentary or a historical 400 pages book. I learned a lot about the efforts that maid for the Right to vote Act. It was beautifully written and illustrated and the language, design, and art made the story come alive for me. Black and white color made it a greater experience because it showed more violent emotions that I felt. I really enjoyed March Book 3 it made learning about historical events really interesting and made history comes to live.
Comics Journalism
In the beginning, reading essays from Journalism and Rolling Blackouts was a great experience. It was my first time to read journals in comics way. They way when I read and see the art made me get the idea easily and feel the situation as I was there. The topic, How comics journalism brings stories to life written by Rui Kaneya details on how Darryl Holliday and E.N. Rodriguez of the Illustrated Press illuminates on societal problems. These writers use mainly based in Chicago, Illinois tend to shed a light on the crimes and violence that is happening around them. For example, a story of a daughter to a Chicago local, Nortasha Stingley was murdered in June 2013. This story was comically written to try and preclude crime in the society. Another article of the topic, Comic Journalism, Comic Activism written by Jared Gardner talks of how people ignore graphic literature due to how they are perceived superficially, with their fiction-like topics.
Joe Sacco as a profound graphic non-fiction novelist is given little credit in terms of his work. He has done a lot of pieces that describe what happens in local communities and the world at large in a graphic novel format. The use of comics or graphic novels to propagate awareness on societal issues, is a noble way to show and tell. The cartoon-like characters will help drive the information home. Journalism and Rolling Blackouts were similar, regardless to the approach both authors were using, the message being convey was vastly similar.
Ms. Marvel
I chose Ms. Marvel which was published in 2014. The main character’s name is Kamala Khan who is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. The author of the book is Wilson American Writer who spent her twenties living in Egypt and worked as a journalist. She started her writing career when she was 17 years old. Also she has written the world’s best superhero comics as known as the-XMEN Superman and more The comic book Ms. Marvel showed some aspects of social issues like discrimination and bullying . For example, how Khan and her friend as Muslim characters are treated by others in the community . Specifically , Khan’s friend who wore a hijab which is a scarf to cover hair was treated negatively by a girl who was mean to her and had a comment about her hijab.
I chose this book because I wanted to know how a Muslim culture would have an impact on a superhero character and how that changes their identity as a hero Khan somehow understood how her identity before she got her powers is important and she wanted to go back to who she was at first.
Abdullah's Blog 