March: Books 2 & 3

March: Book Two begins with Congressman John Lewis in the House of Representatives chamber, preparing to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009. The book then flashes back to Nashville in 1960, where Lewis was attending school at the American Baptist Theological Seminary and using tactics of nonviolent resistance to end the segregation of lunch counters. As a leader of the Nashville student movements, he helped cofound the SNCC, a coalition of student protesters across the segregated South. As Lewis and his fellow protesters pushed for further desegregation in Nashville, they were subject to increasingly harsh treatment, including a restaurant owner who locked the protesters inside and unleashed pesticides on them. The protesters focused next on the local movie theater. The book follows their efforts, which began with forming long lines and returning to the back after being refused, all while enduring harassment from passersby and later violence at the hands of the police. Lewis then insisted on stepping up their efforts; despite the risk of further harm, he led a march in front of the theater. Though no violence broke out, Lewis and dozens of others were arrested.

After a brief glimpse of the preparations for Obama’s inauguration, the next flashback is to April 1961, with Lewis on his way to Washington, DC, to join the