Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars | 971 ratings

Price: 22.04

Last update: 12-16-2024


About this item

#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.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Rosemary Singleton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great information
    Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2024
    This was an excellent book. Love all the information about Medgar and Myrlie Evers, about how their lives together began, and what they experienced in the South and the struggle for equal rights. The cover is eye-catching, and the pictures are great.
  • tania garberg
    5.0 out of 5 stars So so good!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2024
    This book is amazing. It truly is a love story and well written. Joy Reid does a great job telling a story and also telling the history of what occurs.
  • Peggy Sue Druck
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2024
    This book was chocked full of very informative information and is an extremely great read! You can place yourself within this book and see how things unfolded!
  • Better than anticipated!!
    5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, a closer look.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2024
    I heard about this book from many of my friends. I was an activist in the 60’s and unbeknownst to me there was a back story. I’m so happy I purchased this book. The love story, the courage and bravery as well as the audacity to continue has inspired me to continue to fight for justice for all. I love it!!
  • Msdee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2024
    I have never read a book that weaves history through the lense of a love affair for the ages. There are so many lessons of courage and commitment demonstrated through the real life love of two people. This book is an easy read that educates.
  • william j gist
    4.0 out of 5 stars good book
    Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024
    well weritten
  • Penny Hobbs
    5.0 out of 5 stars Too Good for Words
    Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2024
    This book evoked so many mixed emotions. Although characterized as a love story, and it is, it also portrays such a terrible time in our history. Yet, it gives a basis for optimism in todays troubled times. What an amazing example of how people can persevere despite the overwhelming cruelty and hypocrisy they face. Thank you Joy for telling this story.
  • D.K. Sanz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Such an Important Book
    Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024
    Overall, Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America is a beautiful tribute to American civil rights activist, Medgar Evers and his wife, Myrlie, who was the epitome of elegance, grace, and devotion while being her own courageous young woman.

    Medgar Evers was a World War II veteran in a war we fought over racial superiority, a war against racial tyranny, but at home, in the United States of America, even in the 1960s when our little worlds were about peace and love, we treated black people appallingly. For that reason, America looked quite hypocritical to other countries who were aware of the racial tensions here as well as the mistreatment. World War II veteran Medgar Evers, like other people of color, faced the utmost disrespect, being denied the rights afforded to white people and subjected to unimaginable cruelty while being mocked and humiliated every step of the way.

    When President Kennedy offered Medgar’s family the honor of having him buried at Arlington Cemetery with the other veterans and heroes, it alarmed segregationists. Good thing their protest amounted to nothing, and Medgar received the honor he deserved.

    I love that, as discussed in the book, the widows of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers made friends and supported one another. Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, and Myrlie Evers-William carried on the fight, making tremendous strides of their own as civil rights activists.

    Bless Medgar Evers and his family, what they sacrificed to get us where we are today. I never use the world surreal, but when I came upon a photo of Myrlie Evers hugging President Barack Obama fifty years after Medgar’s death, that was surreal to me. She delivered the invocation at his second inauguration ceremony on January 21, 2013.

    Medgar and Myrlie isn’t the page-turning suspense book I normally read, and it’s certainly not an easy read. It’s a book you read slowly in many intervals, and the more you read, the more you want to know. We should know all of this—our history, the good and the bad. It is critical that we learn from people from all walks of life, whether their experiences are similar to or vastly different from our own.

    Medgar and Myrlie is an important book that should be required reading in our schools. I say that because no one taught me about Medgar Evers when I was in school. I, like so many others, grew up oblivious to the sacrifices this young civil rights activist made for the greater good and how much he contributed to the rights ultimately won by his community.

    Some people feel that reading stuff like this will traumatize their kids and plague them with guilt. With my awareness as a child, the only effect it had on me was ever-increasing and much-needed empathy. And, yes, all of it is traumatizing—even more so for the people who lived it and constantly witness dismissal of their experience and their pain. As parents, we can help our children sort through whatever they feel about it, and they will emerge as much more kindhearted individuals.

    You know, I have to say, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of saving us from our own demons. He saw the cruel, ugly behavior as demonic. And that’s what demonic means—extremely evil or cruel. And ironically, for so many, the guidebook is the Bible. Both the Old and New Testament have countless passages about loving one another, being kind and generous to the poor, defending the oppressed. For the oppressed to break free. To love mercy, carry each other’s burdens. Yet, one of the biggest problems we have today is people incapable of putting themselves in someone else’s place and being willing to see things from their point of view. It’s easy not to read, not to listen, not to care. The consequences of ignorance affect both the ignorant individuals and the children they raise to be equally oblivious and unkind.

    My son and I often talk about why some kids realize at an early age that we need to reject all of this and fight for what’s right, while other kids just go along with what their parents teach them. People are afraid of testing their support system because they have bonded with people who have normalized bigoted behavior, and you sacrifice a lot to stand your ground. But I think about what civil rights leaders sacrificed. Some things are just bigger than us.

    So, yes, Martin Luther King Jr. hoped we would rise above our past and present demons.

    I read a blog post the other day by someone who thought it was arrogant of Dr. King to think that he could save the soul of America And yet many people believe that an avaricious, unlawful, misogynistic bigot like Donald Trump can do it. Why? Because he’s white? Unlike Trump, Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t think it was his job alone to heal the country and save our souls, but that it required a collective effort. We are all tasked to help heal the universe, and I hope we succeed.

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