Black Comics: Drawn From the Heart

March is popping up all over the place on best graphic novel lists for 2013, and rightfully so. This is the first book in a planned trilogy that tells of the struggle of Congressman John Lewis, his first hand experience of the Jim Crow South, and his experience living through segregation and choosing to fight against it through his participation in key Civil Rights moments, such as the March on Washington and the Selma-Montgomery March. Fantastic assignment book for teachers looking for an engaging document to bring the struggle for racial equality for African Americans to light.

Congressman John Lewis powerfully recounts his journey in the 1960s' civil rights movement as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The strength of March is the ability of Congressman John Lewis to teach a new generation about the events of the civil rights movement in a way that both entertains and educates.

Winner of the 2017 Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis continues his story in the concluding volume of this graphic novel trilogy, which opens with the bombing of the Birmingham Baptist Church, Freedom Summer and ends with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 being signed into law.

This is a Wonder Woman story with Nubia as the Amazon Super Hero! This story incorporates the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, issues with consent, and a school shooting, all in one impactful graphic novel. Nubia is a high school student struggling to do what's right in a world that doesn't accept her. She is forced to hide a part of herself (her powers) from everyone, except her parents. This is a story about identity, equality, friendship, and standing up to forces that are against you. These topics are part of a wonderful story and can also start some group discussions.

This vibrant novel is an engrossing read on Black sisterhood and the personal experience of Black hair care told through the shared ups and downs of Kim and her friends. The novel is both touching and funny, with beautiful illustrations.

Middle schooler Jordan Banks had hoped to attend art school, but mom sends him to a private prep school where he is one of a handful of black kids. No one at Riverdale Academy Day School is openly hostile towards him for his race, but he deals with a series of microaggressions, like being called the name of another black student, or everyone looking at him when the teacher is discussing students on financial aid. Craft mixes humor with heart in this hilarious yet thoughtful graphic novel.