Joy-Ann Reid, in her recent book, Medgar and Myrlie, tells the story of Medgar and Myrlie Evers - an inspirational story of the love they had for each other and for the country that excluded them.  A personal and political story of the birth of their family and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.  Before Martin Luther King had completed his divinity degree and crafted his nonviolent message, Medgar was a "troublemaker," walking the dirt roads of the impoverished Mississippi delta, selling life insurance to African American sharecroppers, learning the abuses and indignities they suffered within the confines of a culture of white supremacy, while encouraging them to dare to register to vote.

Reid begins with the beating that young Medgar faced on his bus trip home to Decatur, Mississippi, following his 1946 honorable discharge after three years of active duty in an all Black company. She recounts the African American experience - Emmet Till's lynching; lunch counter confrontations; Jackson Boycott; murders of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman; Mississippi Summer; the Civil Rights Bill of 1964; and decades of unchecked terror in Mississippi, interweaving the violence with the gentleness of the joys and love Medgar shared with Myrlie for 12 short years. Adding this human dimension to the Civil Rights story, Reid offers a more complete understanding of the heroes who risked their lives for Civil Rights.  It is not just those who were beaten and killed that she speaks of, but those like Myrlie, who created supportive families that gave unwavering strength to the likes of Medgar, Martin, and Malcolm.