Joy Reid’s new book: Medgar & Myrlie!

By Mary Bartling | Categories: Benefits of Humanities

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oy Reid has a new book out… Medgar & Myrlie! And that’s gladsome news. Because Joy’s new work about the overlooked legacy of these civil rights icons fills important gaps in Black history – the part of America’s story that banners are doing their best to squash.

And, she does so through the love story of Medgar and Myrlie Evers. By writing from this perspective Reid puts a very human face on this chapter of American history, one with thoughts, emotions, family and friends.

As a result, Medgar and Myrlie Evers become more than the one-dimensional representations of civil rights leaders found in textbooks (when they haven’t been excised from them). So, we’re able to connect with the couple on a human level. It does what books do best.

We see Medgar and Myrlie as a couple for starters, and consequently with empathy. When that happens people become engaged, and are more open to understanding the larger issues at hand than they may have previously been. And we could sure use more empathy and understanding these days.

So hopefully, this important and insightful book, from a whip-smart and delightful author, will end up in classrooms and on library shelves everywhere… and stay there.

Not to mention, it’s perfectly timed with Black History Month!

Pair this with “Rosa Parks Day: Ensuring Her Story is Told.”