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Good Trouble

Good Trouble is a documentary about the civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. John Lewis worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the '60s and was part of a group of six people who planned the March on Washington in 1963. He was a US Member of Congress from 1987 until his death in 2020.
Photo: We see John Lewis, he is an older Black man. He is bald. He is wearing a blue suit with a tie. Behind him we see a younger man. There is a street sign behind them. The sign says John Lewis Freedom.
John Lewis was a civil rights activist and congressman. Image: Erik S. Lesser / CC BY-NC 4.0
Before you watch the film

Work in a group and read out the quotations from John Lewis that you will find below. Then discuss what impression you get of John Lewis from reading the quotations. What do you think were his main causes as an activist and politician?

  • 'Your vote matters. If it didn’t, why would some people keep trying to take it away?'

  • 'I have said this before, and I will say it again, the vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.'

  • 'Nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society. Why? Because human beings are the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.'

  • 'Take a long, hard look down the road you will have to travel once you have made a commitment to work for change. Know that this transformation will not happen right away. Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once. In the movement, we didn't know how history would play itself out. When we were getting arrested and waiting in jail or standing in unmovable lines on the courthouse steps, we didn’t know what would happen, but we knew it had to happen.'

  • 'Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.'

  • 'Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.'

Source: McCarthy, J., 2020, "10 John Lewis Quotes That Will Inspire You to Get Into ‘Good Trouble’", Global Citizen. Link to article on Global Citizen's website.

First ten minutes of the film

Watch the first ten minutes of the documentary, press pause and take ten minutes to discuss the following questions.

  1. What is this film about?

  2. The first ten minutes of any film are important as the filmmakers have to grab the viewers' interest and make them want to continue watching. What have the documentary film makers done to capture our interest in these first ten minutes? Try to mention at least three different things.

Watching the rest of the film:

While you watch, take notes about the following questions.

  • What are the cinematic devices used in the documentary?

  • What are the literary devices used in the documentary (e.g. flashback)?

  • Why did John Lewis become a civil rights activist?

  • What was it like to be a civil rights activist in the 1960s?

  • What issues were important to John Lewis in his work as a congressman?

  • What did John Lewis mean by 'getting in good trouble'?

Good trouble:

Watch the film by clicking play below.

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