Andrew Aydin, the creator and co-author of the graphic novel memoir series \u201cMARCH,\u201d spoke to Georgia Highlands College (GHC) students on Tuesday, Jan. 12, during a virtual event. The National Book Award winning story focuses on the real-life experiences of late U.S Congressman John Lewis.<\/p>\n
Aydin\u2019s trilogy showcases the civil rights movement and is told from the perspective of Lewis. The congressman is best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and for leading the march that was halted by police violence on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement that became known as \u201cBloody Sunday.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The virtual student event was moderated by staff members of the Six Mile Post, the GHC\u2019s student newspaper.<\/p>\n
Aydin spoke about his experience growing up as a Turkish-American youth in Atlanta, working to survive amid poverty and being raised by a single mother. He told students, faculty and staff about how he was able to accomplish his goals, largely thanks to a mentorship with Lewis and by following the values instilled in him by his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that you can come from we called \u201999 cent hamburger poor\u2019 and stand on stage with a civil rights icon and hold up your comic book and say, \u2018I deserve to be here\u2019 \u2013 that was the highest achievement I have had,\u201d Aydin said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Aydin is a New York Times bestselling author, a National Book Award winner, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Honoree, a Printz Award winner, a Sibert Medal winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, a two-time Eisner award winner and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors.<\/p>\n
Reading comics from a young age and often having to borrow them because he could not afford to purchase them, Aydin said he was interested in comic books because the stories were often about \u201cpeople doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn comic books, these are characters that have gone through extreme trauma but still found a way to help people,\u201d Aydin said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n