A Word: Love, Family, and Freedom’s Ultimate Price

Slate Books

Slate Podcasts

Arts

3.8 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Myrlie Evers was arguably the first civil rights widow, a woman who was plunged into activism after the assassination of her husband—Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers—in 1963. She survived to become a leader of the movement in her own right. But what’s less well known is the remarkable story of how the couple came together, and how their love endures, decades after his death. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by journalist Joy-Ann Reid to talk about her book, Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America. Guest: Joy-Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Word, a podcast from Slate.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:10.2	The history of the civil rights movement is about courage, commitment, sacrifice, and also love.
0:16.5	And one of the great love stories of the era was between Medgar and Merley Evers. And even decades after
0:22.6	his assassination, that love story has a lot to tell us now. If you have love, love gives you courage.
0:29.7	And that's what I want people to take away. Award-winning journalist Joy Reid talks about
0:33.8	her new book, Medgar and Murley. Coming up on a Word with me, Jason Johnson.
0:38.8	Stay with us.
0:48.6	Welcome to a Word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else.
0:52.0	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:53.8	Look, even before
0:54.9	attacking lessons on black history became a political requirement of the American right,
0:59.6	the stories of African American heroes often lacked dimension. The complicated people and
1:04.8	their relationships were flattened into paragraph-sized morality tales to be shared and then
1:09.9	forgotten during the shortest month of the year.
1:12.6	But the true stories of these men and women are filled with nuance, humanity, and yes, love.
1:18.2	That's something brought to the forefront of the new book Medgar and Murley, Medgar Evers, and the love story that awakened America.
1:24.7	The bestselling book captures the home and family life of Medgar
1:28.0	Evers, the field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP, who was gunned down in front of his own home
1:34.5	back in 1963. His widow, Merley Evers Williams, became an activist in her own right, fighting for
1:41.3	justice in his murder, eventually leading the NACP, and rising as a key
1:46.2	voice in keeping the movement alive for younger generations. But this book goes beyond the history
	...

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