''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' is a 16-page comic book about

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

, and the

Montgomery bus boycott The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...

published in 1957 by the

Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). ...

(FOR USA). It advocates the principles of nonviolence and provides a primer on nonviolent resistance.Bello. Grace
"A Comic Book for Social Justice: John Lewis,"
''Publishers Weekly'' (July 19, 2012). Although ignored by the mainstream comics industry, ''The Montgomery Story'', written by Alfred Hassler and Benton Resnik and illustrated by Sy Barry, was widely distributed among civil rights groups, churches, and schools. It helped inspire nonviolent protest movements around the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and later in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, and elsewhere. Over 50 years after its initial publication, the comic inspired the best-selling, award-winning ''March'' trilogy by

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Congressman

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Publication history

Following the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, which FOR USA had helped organize, executive secretary and director of publications Alfred Hassler,Forest, Jim (former FoR Publication Director). Comment on Ethan Persoff's blog (2011): "The author of the text and the man who had the idea for the comic was Al Hassler, executive secretary of FOR USA. He convinced comic artist Al Capp of the value of the project. Capp's studio did the drawings gratis." and FoR member the Rev. Glenn E. Smiley came up with the idea of using a comic book to bring the story of the bus boycott to a wide audience. (Smiley had been personally active in the bus boycott, and had formed a friendship with Dr. King.)Aydin, Andrew
"The comic book that changed the world: Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story's vital role in the Civil Rights Movement,"
''Creative Loafing'' (Aug. 1, 2013). Presenting the comic idea as a way to reach wider audiences (including those with lower reading levels), the group acquired grant funding of $5,000 for the projectLove, David A
"Egyptians draw inspiration from Civil Rights Movement comic book."
''

The Grio TheGrio, styled as thegrio, is an American television network and website with news, opinion, entertainment and video content geared toward Black Americans. The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News, it became a di ...

'' (February 2, 2011). from the

Fund for the Republic The Fund for the Republic (1951–1959) was an organization created by the Ford Foundation and dedicated to protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties in the United States. In 1959, the Fund moved from New York City to Santa Barbar ...

. Dr, King himself endorsed the book and even provided a few editorial suggestions.Mark, Banaszak
"The Comic That Inspired a Movement: Andrew Aydin on Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story,"
''Previews World'' (June 3, 2015). Cartoonist Al Capp was an admirer of Dr. King; his studio produced ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' at no charge, which was co-written by Hassler and Benton Resnik, and drawn by an uncredited artist. (Benton Resnick had been an editor and writer for the Al Capp-owned comics companies Toby Press and Graphic Information Services.) The artist has since been confirmed to be Sy Barry by artist

James Romberger James Romberger (born 1958) is an American fine artist and cartoonist known for his depictions of New York City's Lower East Side. Romberger's pastel drawings of the ravaged landscape of the Lower East Side and its citizens are in many public ...

. It was published in December

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

in full-color with a cover price of 10 cents. 250,000 copies were printed. Instead of the typical distribution network for comics in those days, which were

newsstands A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

, and

candy store A confectionery store (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy shop or candy store in North America, or a lolly shop in Australia and New Zealand) sells confectionery and the intended market is usually children. M ...

s, ''The Montgomery Story'' was distributed by the

among civil rights groups, churches, and schools. It was also promoted in pro-Civil Rights publications such as ''

National Guardian ''The National Guardian'', later known as ''The Guardian'', was a left-wing independent weekly newspaper established in 1948 in New York City. The paper was founded by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage and John T. McManus in connection with the 194 ...

'' and '' Peace News''. FoR staff members, particularly Jim Lawson (an African American divinity student at Vanderbilt University) and Glenn Smiley, traveled through the South, giving workshops on nonviolence. They would distribute the comic to younger attendees as something to take with them and study. At some point not long after its original publication, FoR produced a Spanish version of the comic for distribution throughout

. Instead of using the same art as the English edition, the Spanish version is a complete copy of the original, drawn by a different artist. 125,000 copies were printed, but only a handful of copies of the Spanish version still exist.

Revival

In 2004 comic book artist, writer and historian Tom Christopher researched the King comic and posted an article about it (which included art samples of both the English and Spanish versions) on his website. Christopher had previously documented the publication of '' All-Negro Comics'' (1947) and the ''Golden Legacy'' and ''Fast Willie Jackson'' series (1976), and those articles included information on other comics such as ''Negro Heroes'' and '' Negro Romance''. Christopher described ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' not in terms of being a rare or obscure comic but as an historic document, placing it in the political context of the times and explaining non-violence as a workable tool for social change. ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' became a major attraction on his website, and the next ''

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ''The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (or ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'') is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the ...

'' listed the book for the first time. By 2006, there were only a handful of copies of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' left in existence. That year, cartoonist/archivist Ethan Persoff scanned an original copy of the comic and posted it on his blog for

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Mond ...

.Persoff, Ethan
"The 1956 International Bilingual Dr Martin Luther King Jr Comic Book Message,"
Ethan Persoff's blog (early January 2006). In 2008, Persoff reported that the Cairo director of the American Islamic Congress (AIC) had translated the scanned comic into

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. The AIC's HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance) initiative printed 2,500 copies of the translated comic, distributing them throughout

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

.Persoff, Ethan
"How EP.TC Is Unintentionally Contributing to World Peace,"
Ethan Persoff's blog (March 27, 2008). Until 2012, no history of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' had been written, and most versions of how the comic was created listed Al Capp as the actual creator. As part of his graduate degree at Georgetown University, Andrew Aydin wrote the first long-form history of ''The Montgomery Story'' as his graduate thesis. With the help of

Carlow University Carlow University is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1929 by the Sisters of Mercy. Carlow's thirteen athletic teams are the Celtics, a reflection of the university's Irish heritage and roots. In 201 ...

Professor Dr. Sylvia Rhor and comic book icon

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Chicago. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of ''From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), Campbell is also the creator of the semi-au ...

, Aydin established most of what is known about the comic's creation and use. In August 2013, Aydin published a shortened version of his thesis as the feature article in ''

Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...

s award-winning "Future of Nonviolence" issue, which was guest-edited by Congressman John Lewis and Aydin. In 2013,

Top Shelf Productions Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. Now an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia. Top Shelf pu ...

published an authorized re-issue of the comic, with all proceeds going to the

Plot

The comic opens with a one-page synopsis of

's life and education up until 1957. The narrative then shifts to

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

, in 1954. An

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

man named Jones tells of life in Montgomery under Jim Crow laws. He describes the events of the

and the important role played by

and Martin Luther King Jr. In the story, King advocates nonviolence, even when his own home is bombed during the boycott. The last section of the comic discusses the "Montgomery Method" of nonviolence, its roots in the activism of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, and provides practical advice on how to pursue nonviolent activism.

Legacy

''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' influenced other civil rights activists, including the Greensboro Four. Thanks to the 2008 American Islamic Congress HAMSA initiative, thousands of copies of the Arabic and Persian version of the comic were distributed to democracy advocates throughout the Middle East. When the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 broke out, U.S. Representative

credited the mass-distribution of the 50-year-old comic as a contributing element in the Egyptian protests.Persoff, Ethan
"Our Website's Work Used In Wide-Spread Egyptian Peace Campaign"
Ethan Persoff blog (February 3–15, 2011). A

hard copy ''Hard Copy'' is an American tabloid television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. ''Hard Copy'' was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence. The original hosts of ''Hard Copy' ...

of the Spanish edition of the comic is housed in the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...

, part of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

''March''

Congressman

read ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' as a teenager. The comic book demonstrated in clear fashion to Lewis the power of the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence. Later, as he attended weekly meetings with students from Fisk University, Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University, and

American Baptist College American Baptist College (previously American Baptist Theological Seminary) is a private, Baptist college in Nashville, Tennessee, affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA. Founded in 1924, its predecessor in black Baptist education ...

to discuss nonviolent protest, ''The Montgomery Story'' served as one of their guides.Hughes, Joseph (September 16, 2013)
"Congressman John Lewis And Andrew Aydin Talk Inspiring The ‘Children Of The Movement’ With ‘March’ (Interview)"
.

Comics Alliance ComicsAlliance was an American website dedicated to covering the comic book industry as well as comic-related media, and is owned by Townsquare Media. The site has been nominated for multiple awards including a 2015 Eisner Award win in the catego ...

. Lewis went on to become an important activist during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. While working on his 2008 reelection campaign, Lewis told his telecommunications and technology policy aide, Andrew Aydin, about ''The Montgomery Story'' and its influence. Aydin tracked down a copy of the comic (which had long since fallen out of print), and thought that Lewis' own story would make strong material for comic book treatment: Aydin repeatedly suggested that Lewis himself write a comic book, and eventually Lewis decided to commit to the project, on the condition that Aydin write it with him.Herbowy, Greg (Fall 2014). "Q+A: Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell". ''Visual Arts Journal''.

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

. pp. 48 - 51 The award-winning ''

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

'' trilogy, written by Lewis & Aydin, illustrated by

Nate Powell Nathan Lee Powell (born 1978) is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel ''Swallow Me Whole'' won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the ''March'' trilogy, an autobiographical ...

, and published beginning in 2013 by

, is the result. MacDonald, Heidi (May 21, 2014)
"March Book One is first graphic novel to win the RFK Book Award"

Comics Beat Heidi MacDonald (born November 15) is a writer and editor in the field of comic books based in New York City. She runs the comics industry news blog '' The Beat''. Career MacDonald is a former editor for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint and '' Disney ...

Awards

Top Shelf's authorized re-issue of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' won the 2014 Glyph Comics Award for Best Reprint Publication.

References

General references

Inline citations

External links

''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story''
Full comic hosted at the

Civil Rights Movement Archive The Civil Rights Movement Archive (CRMA) refers to both an online collection of materials about the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s (also known as the "Freedom Movement"), as well as the organization that created and maintai ...

Spanish version of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story''
hosted on Ethan Persoff's blog
Arabic version of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' on the HAMSA website

Persian version of ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'' on the HAMSA website

''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story''
— Tom Christopher's updated 2004 article. {{Civil rights movement, state=collapsed Cultural depictions of Martin Luther King Jr. History of African-American civil rights Civil rights movement in popular culture 1957 comics debuts Comics about politics Biographical comics American comics Comics set in the 1950s Comics based on real people Works about American history Works about American politics Works about racism Works about bus transport Comics set in the United States Black people in comics Books about activists Montgomery bus boycott Fellowship of Reconciliation Non-fiction comics African-American comics