View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Georgia Southern University: Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Center for Undergraduate Research and Curio Research Symposium Intellectual Opportunities (CURIO) 2020 “Superheroes: How the American Dream During the Civil Rights Movement is Portrayed in Comics” Summer Sexton Georgia Southern University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/curio Part of the Creative Writing Commons Recommended Citation Sexton, Summer, "“Superheroes: How the American Dream During the Civil Rights Movement is Portrayed in Comics”" (2020). Curio Research Symposium. 21. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/curio/21 This presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Intellectual Opportunities (CURIO) at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Curio Research Symposium by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Summer Sexton Department: Literature, Statesboro Co-Presenters: Faculty Mentor: Oliva Carr-Edenfield, Literature “Superheroes: How the American Dream During the Civil Rights Movement is Portrayed in Comics” In this paper I will discuss how the American Dream is represented in comic books and how comic books are used to educate the younger generation on the American Dream. This paper was inspired by my love for the Captain America comic books and my senior seminar class topic was the American Dream. During the class we read the comic book March by John Lewis, which inspired me to research why Lewis chose to write in the comic book style. While doing my research I found that Lewis was an avid comic book reader as a child, he was inspired by Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story to maintain a path of peace and nonviolence. When looking at comic books to compare to March, I chose to look at Captain America. Captain America and the character Falcon are both characters that relate to the American Dream. The character Falcon shows how the American Dream can transfer from the comic books to the real world, like to an actor portraying Falcon. This research is important because it shows that comic books are not just for entertainment, but for also education on the past. Comic books allow younger readers to be exposed to information and situations that would normally be too harsh of a topic to expose to certain age groups. This paper shows readers that they can learn from all type of literature, not just historical documents or books. .