The Importance of Historical Fiction in Learning History

The March trilogy: A Memoir of Congressman Lewis

The March trilogy is a memoir of Congressman Lewis who has a long eminent career in his engagement in politics. March is a showcase example of the power of comic medium as a method of educating the reader. Before achieving its main objective of racial equality, the civil rights movement engaged in several significant activities that led to its success. ‘The March’ is based on the activities that the civil rights movement engaged in and majorly the roles that Lewis played in it. Dowd’s article on the civil rights movement also gives out the general overview of the civil rights movement and how those involved carried out their activities. This paper gives an account of the roles that the civil rights movement played in both Lewis’s novel and Dowd’s article.

The Confrontations and Struggles of the Civil Rights Movement

The March by Lewis clearly explains much about the civil rights movements including the confrontations that they had, as well as how ugly and tension-filled they were. In the novel, Lewis states that the civil rights movement was formed due to the high levels of racial discrimination that were taking place in the country at that time. The members of this movement engaged in numerous freedom rights to fight against the segregation that was taking place in the interstate bus stations. The bombing at a church in Birmingham in September 1963 caused a change in favor of the movement as it led to the 1964 passing of the civil rights act. Although the movement achieved its aims, Lewis adds that they had to face several encounters with the brutal policemen who punished them severely for holding unauthorized meetings[1]. The members of the civil rights movement were convicted for interfering with the peace, and in case of refusal to pay the fines; they were given sentences in the prisons. Personally, Lewis had also been arrested severally for participating in the movement[2]. By the end of 1963, the civil rights movement had gained the full attention of the country under the guidance of Lewis as the chairman of the student nonviolent coordinating committee (SNCC)[3]. Together with an army of activists I the civil rights movement, Lewis launched several campaigns such as the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the freedom vote.

The Decline of the Civil Rights Movement

As stated in Dowd’s article, the launching of the civil rights movement was due to the decision by the Brown V. board of education, preceded over and done with the public protests and then culminated through passing of the voting rights act of 1965 and the 1964 civil rights act. Later on, after all this, Dowd states that the movement came to a decline[4]. As much as the domestic anticommunism strived to weaken the institutional base of the civil rights movement, it is the one that strengthened them. This is because the government officials were given a reason by the Soviet Union as to why managing the relations of the American races abroad was important[5]. Dowd also states that this resulted in the civil rights movement leaders getting a chance to access the halls of power which they were not allowed to access before. While fighting for the civil rights, Dowd concludes that the civil rights movement faced a lot of challenges that were caused by the evil that had been rooted in the community.

The Importance of Historical Fiction in Learning History

Historical fiction can be of great positive influence on the learning of history by the students. When used, historical fiction develops the learners' curiosity on the topic which leads to gaining more knowledge on it. Through historical fiction, the students will have similar chances of creating historical analogies as they will be able to compare knowledge from different books which might not have similar information. With the use of historical fiction, there will be the development of different perspectives as the learners will come into contact with different kinds of books which have a different explanation of a certain concept. Historical fiction helps bring back all the dimension of history from different literature thus bringing on board the complexity of history. Through reading the novel, a wide range of information has been showcased the exact details of the activities and the challenges that the civil rights movement underwent all through its journey to achieving racial equality. The learner has also gained different perspectives of the historical activities that took place in the struggle for achieving racial equality. This would not have been the case if the learner had only read Down’s article on the civil rights movement. Historical fiction is, therefore, an important method of learning history and thus should be applied for better performance in history and increasing the scope of the history learners.

Bibliography

Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd. "The long civil rights movement and the political uses of the past."The Journal of American Issue, 2005: 1233-1263.

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell. March. Washington: Top Shelf Productions, 2013. Print.

[1] John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell. March. Washington: Top Shelf Productions, 2013.

[2] Ibid, 70

[3] John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell. March. Washington: Top Shelf Productions, 2013.

[4] Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd. "The long civil rights movement and the political uses of the past."The Journal of American Issue, 2005: 1240

[5] Ibid, 1256