Students came to hear a living legend, a man who was about their age when he helped changed the course of history. Lewis is a civil rights pioneer, one of the organizers of Dr. King's march on Washington. Now 76 years old, Lewis hopes to inspire the new generation of activists.
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"I say to Black Lives Matter young people, study, read, watch the film footage and try to adopt the way of peace and love," Lewis said.
He's still using the non-violent tactics of the 60s, launching the sit-in on the floor of the House of Representaives earlier this summer in a congressional showdown over gun control.
"I said we need to find a way to dramatize the issues, to make it plain, to make it clear," he said.
That's also his mission in a trilogy of books called, "March." The third has just been released. They offer Lewis' eye-witness account of the civil rights movement, with co-author Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell. The graphic novels are a format that appeal to young people.
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"Visual story telling is how they learn, and so if we want to speak to them, we have to speak to them in their language," said co-author Andrew Aydin,
Briana Hill, 15, is inspired by the message. "How we can all come as one and make a lot of things happen if we just come as one," Hill said.
There's a movement to make the congressman's books required reading in high schools nationwide.