This series of books has taught me more in 600 pages than years of history class. I believe I knew what the civil rights movement was about, and what things were up and what was down, but this book has shown me the errors of my ideas. I say it here and now, this series of books should be taught in school.

Reading this book is hard. It should be. It is done in such a way that you feel you are one of the characters, wondering if you too shall be beaten for wanting the right to vote. Your feet get tired after a 5 day march of 50 miles. The story is told from John Lewis’s point of view, and I scream to my past teachers, why did we never learn of this man. Yes, in the back of my mind I knew he was a senator, but when I remember learning about the movement, we learned about Dr. King, and Rosa Parks. We also learned that it was a non-violent protest, but it was only non-violent on one side. I had heard of bombings, and cross burnings, but never realized how prolific and how deadly the movement was until these books. To the authors, the illustrators, John Lewis, and all of those, thank you. Thank you for sharing your story, for teaching me the things I didn’t learn in school. And thank you for your work and braving your lives to make this nation better.

#beatthebacklist #dumbledoresarmy