A new graphic novel about Jan. 6 is being sent to every Pa. public high school

Starting this week, high schools across Pennsylvania will be receiving copies of a serialized graphic novel that asks students to consider a question: What would have happened if the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection had been successful?

The creators of 1/6: A Graphic Novel say they’re mailing copies to every public high school in Pennsylvania — about 750 schools — along with public libraries. The goal, they say, is to convey the risks facing American democracy, and what people can do about it.

“It’s very evident to me, the forces that led to that insurrection … the white supremacy, disinformation — those things are all very still much with us,” said Alan Jenkins, a Harvard Law professor who authored the graphic novel with Gan Golan.

A comic book fan, Jenkins wanted to write about the insurrection in a widely accessible way, rather than a law review article read by “tens of people who already agree with me.” Backed by the Kettering Foundation, a pro-democracy research foundation, the creators decided to focus their outreach on Pennsylvania because it’s “one of the top states for book bans,” Jenkins said — “even as it is the birthplace of our democracy.”

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Jenkins said high schools will receive the first two issues of 1/6 — a name he hopes will convey the significance of the day, not unlike the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The novel imagines what would have happened had Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman not “managed to lure the mob away from the Senate chambers,” Jenkins said.

The first issue depicts a society controlled by armed militias who take over a TV network — declaring it to be “an enemy of freedom.” At a “patriots parade,” a speaker blasts the “thugs and criminals from Black Lives Matter” while adherents repeat white nationalist slogans, with the phrases “Blood and Soil” and “I will not be replaced” in word bubbles. Dissidents work covertly, avoiding the militias enforcing curfew while transporting Electoral College ballots — “the last evidence of our democracy.”

In the second issue, readers are taken through events leading up to and including Jan. 6 — starting with the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally organized by white supremacists in Charlottesville, and former President Donald Trump’s comments that “there were very fine people on both sides.”

Also featured are Trump’s remarks to the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” his refusal to disavow the QAnon conspiracy group, and the infamous November 2020 news conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Northeast Philadelphia, where Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani refused to concede that President Joe Biden had won the election.

It also describes how more than 60 challenges by Trump to election results were thrown out by courts; Trump’s call to Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, directing him to “find 11,780 votes”; and the events of Jan. 6, including rioters overwhelming Capitol police and shouting: “Hang Mike Pence!”

The end of the issue notes how the panels in the graphic novel have different borders, depending on whether the events depicted are documented, based on legal documents, sworn testimony, or news reporting; speculative, portraying events that have been substantiated, but with the specific words or setting unknown; or fictional.

“We’re quite clear about which is which,” Jenkins said, noting that schools will also receive an “action guide” produced with the Western States Center that lays out facts about the insurrection, the numbers of election deniers who won in the 2022 midterms, and increases in reported hate crimes, threats to public officials, and politicians banning books — “a hallmark of authoritarianism.”

Numerous area school districts did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday about whether they would add the book to their libraries, or how they would use it; one suburban district official noted that a book submitted to the district would likely have to undergo a review by a committee of librarians and administrators before being added to libraries.

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A spokesperson for the Philadelphia School District, Christina Clark, said the district does not ban books. “Schools determine which books are in their libraries, unless there is a specific initiative that is led or funded by the district,” Clark said in a statement.

Given that many high schoolers seek out information “in popular culture and social media, where often the algorithms prevent them from getting different points of view,” Jenkins said he hopes to reach them with a medium they understand.

Jenkins said the story — which will include still-unreleased third and fourth issues — is “told with empathy,” with characters including a “MAGA voter who loses his son at the insurrection, and is asking tough questions about whether he did the right thing.” Other characters include a journalist, a congressional staffer, and a first responder.

In a purple state, where battles have been waged over library books and parent accusations that schools are “indoctrinating” children, Jenkins expects there could be pushback. But he plans to work with educators and groups like the NAACP of Philadelphia to get the book to as many people as possible — and hopefully, he said, spur dialogue.

“It’s possible the book will get banned, but we’re ready for that,” he said. “We think the truth always is stronger than censorship.”

Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.