This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

The history of the Civil Rights Movement is about courage, commitment, sacrifice, and also love.

And one of the great love stories of the era was between Meggar and Merle Evers.

And even decades after his assassination, that love story has a lot to tell us now.

If you have love, love gives you courage. And that's what I want people to take away.

Award-winning journalist Joy Reed talks about her new book, Medgar and Merley.

Coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson.

Stay with us. Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host Jason Johnson.

Even before attacking lessons on black history became a political requirement of

the American right, the stories of African American heroes often lacked dimension. The complicated people in their

relationships were flattened into paragraph size morality tales to be shared and then

forgotten during the shortest month of the year.

But the true stories of these men and women are filled with nuanced,

humanity, and yes, love.

That's something brought to the forefront of the new book, Medgar and Merle,

Medgar Evers, and the love story that awakened America.

The best selling book captures the home and family life of Medgar Evers, the field secretary

for the Mississippi NAACP, who was gunned down in front of his own home back in 1963.

His widow, Merley Evers-Williams, became an activist in her own right, fighting for justice

in his murder, eventually leading the NAACP, and rising as a key voice

in keeping the movement alive for younger generations.

But this book goes beyond the history and the heroism to explore the romance between Meggar and Murley and how that love endured long after his death.

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