Medgar and Myrlie
Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller
“Medgar Evers deserves a place alongside Malcolm X and Dr. King in our historical memory. Evers, with Myrlie as his partner in activism and in life, was doing civil rights work in the single most hostile and dangerous environment in America.”—from Medgar and Myrlie
By MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid, a triumphant work of biography that repositions slain Civil Rights pioneer Medgar Evers at the heart of America's struggle for freedom, and celebrates Myrlie Evers's extraordinary activism after her husband's assassination in the driveway of their Mississippi home.
"I love this book. The empathic, brilliant, and wise Joy Reid has brought us the poignant, fascinating inside story of Medgar and Myrlie Evers, transformational leaders who confronted pure evil and risked their lives to ensure that all American children might grow up in a United States that was more just. As Reid shows us, that painful task is now more urgent than ever.” — Michael Beschloss
Myrlie Louise Beasley met Medgar Evers on her first day of college. They fell in love at first sight, married just one year later, and Myrlie left school to focus on their growing family.
Medgar became the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to black voting rights in the country. Myrlie served as Medgar’s secretary and confidant, working hand in hand with him as they struggled against public accommodations and school segregation, lynching, violence, and sheer despair within their state’s “black belt.” They fought to desegregate the intractable University of Mississippi, organized picket lines and boycotts, despite repeated terroristic threats, including the 1962 firebombing of their home, where they lived with their three young children.
On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers became the highest profile victim of Klan-related assassination of a black civil rights leader at that time; gunned down in the couple’s driveway in Jackson. In the wake of his tragic death, Myrlie carried on their civil rights legacy; writing a book about Medgar’s fight, trying to win a congressional seat, and becoming a leader of the NAACP in her own right.
In this groundbreaking and thrilling account of two heroes of the civil rights movement, Joy-Ann Reid uses Medgar and Myrlie’s relationship as a lens through which to explore the on-the-ground work that went into winning basic rights for Black Americans, and the repercussions that still resonate today.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Some of the Black activists who fought and died in the ongoing battle for civil rights are in danger of falling through the cracks of popular history—and journalist Joy-Ann Reid wants to ensure that doesn’t happen to Medgar and Myrlie Evers. The married couple worked together, with Medgar serving as the NAACP’s Mississippi field secretary and Myrlie acting as his secretary and behind-the-scenes partner. We were amazed to learn that Medgar personally persuaded terrorized Black citizens to testify against the tragic lynching of Emmett Till and then hurried those witnesses out of Mississippi to escape deadly reprisal. And that’s just one of the high-profile battles the Evers fought before Medgar was brutally assassinated right in front of the family’s home in 1963. Get to know this chapter in the ongoing story of the struggle for equality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MSNBC host Reid (The Man Who Sold America) presents a moving dual biography of civil rights icon Medgar Evers (1925–1963) and his wife, Myrlie, born in 1933. The two met and fell in love in 1950 as college students in Mississippi. They married in 1951, and Myrlie took care of their three children as Medgar became increasingly active in opposing racism; in 1952, he was a founding member of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, and, in 1954, he became the NAACP's field secretary for Mississippi. Myrlie grew concerned as her husband's visibility made him a target for racists, and her worst fears were realized when Medgar was gunned down in the family's driveway in 1963. His murderer, white nationalist Byron De La Beckwith, was quickly arrested, but evaded conviction by two all-white juries. However, Myrlie's lobbying of the district attorney and collaboration with a local reporter eventually led to a new trial that resulted in De La Beckwith's conviction in 1994. Along the way, Myrlie became a national civil rights leader herself, serving as the NAACP's national chair in 1995. Reid's access to Myrlie and the couple's two surviving children enables her to make their tragic yet ultimately inspiring story accessible and human, while still firmly conveying Medgar and Myrlie's courageousness. This is a rousing tribute to a legendary American family.
