The critically acclaimed graphic novel series, MARCH, will now reach the nation’s largest public school system.

As a part of the New York City Department of Education’s “Passport to Social Studies” curriculum, 8th-grade teachers will now be able to use MARCH as a tool to teach students about the Civil Rights Movement. They can choose to use lessons developed by the Department of Social Studies that feature scenes from MARCH, to talk about events such as John Lewis’s speech at the 1963 March on Washington.

“I am deeply moved that New York City Public Schools are adding MARCH to the Social Studies curriculum. This is a major step to ensuring every young person receives the best possible education about Nonviolence and the Civil Rights Movement,” Lewis wrote on Facebook.

MARCH is a graphic novel trilogy that tells the first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights. It’s a #1 New York Times and Washington Post bestseller, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and is the first graphic novel to receive a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. You can buy the first two books here, and Book 3 will be released in August of this year.

Andrew Aydin, who co-authored the book with Lewis and Nate Powell, said he hoped the inclusion of MARCH will spark the use of more graphic novels in classrooms.

Here’s to hoping that this will encourage more diverse reading offerings in the classroom at a younger age.

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