Medgar & Myrlie : Medgar Evers and the love story that awakened America / Joy-Ann Reid.
Edition:
First Harper large print edition.
Publisher:
Harper Large Print,
Copyright Date:
2024
Description:
531 pages (large print), 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 483-531) and index.
Contents:
Prologue: Love -- Mississippi Goddamn... -- Medgar and Myrlie -- Emmett Till -- The house on Guynes Street -- Mississippi freedom -- Freedom from fear -- Countdown -- How to be a civil rights widow -- A tristate conspiracy? -- Justice -- Carnegie Hall -- Many thanks -- Notes -- Index.
Summary:
"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." -- Dust jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.