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2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS • ORLANDO

COGNOTES 13

America Will Get it Right

By Talea Anderson, Washington State University

As part of 50th anniversary celebrations for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Congressman John Lewis spoke on Saturday about his graphic novel trilogy March, a series that retells the events of the civil rights movement including the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Lewis appeared with his March collaborators, coauthor Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell.

Lewis famously led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at the height of the civil rights movement. Now, as the last surviving member of the “Big Six” civil rights organizations active in the 1960s and a former Freedom Rider, he uses March to recount his memories of the time period.

Lewis spoke about the crucial role libraries fill in encouraging upcoming generations to pursue social change. He noted how, by reading, he was inspired to challenge the racist status quo. “You as librarians have been encouraging people to get into trouble – good trouble – and you must continue to do just that,” he said. “Through information – through books – we must find a way to set down the burden of hate.”

William Adams, chairman of the NEH, concurred in introducing Lewis that libraries are essential for supporting healthy egalitarian societies. “There is no democracy without the act of memory,” he said, likewise encouraging libraries to continue in their work of preserving and sharing the history of events like the civil rights movement. It is for this reason that the NEH has awarded some 3,400 grants to libraries in the past 50 years, totaling $515 million.

Lewis concluded his remarks by calling on librarians to remain hopeful, despite events like the recent Orlando shootings. He recalled how, in 1956 at 16 years of age, he was turned away from Pike County Public Library because library cards were for “whites only.” In 1998 he returned to this library for the first time to sign copies of his memoir, Walking with the Wind. At that time, 40 years later, he was welcomed into the library by an audience of white and black readers, and the staff gladly presented him with a library card. “When people say the world doesn’t change,” Lewis said, “I want to tell them to walk in my shoes…. I truly believe we will get it right in America.” Lewis left the stage amid modified words from the civil rights movement, “We will overcome.”