**THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT** 

The host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut and New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Sold America traces the extraordinary lives and legacy of civil rights icons Medgar and Myrlie Evers, situating Medgar Evers’s assassination as a catalyzing moment in American history.

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. 

Joy-Ann Reid will be joined in conversation by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, host of Today with Dr. Kaye on WEAA 88.9 FM. 

About the Author:

Joy-Ann Reid is an MSNBC political analyst and host of “The ReidOut,” which airs weeknights on MSNBC from 7-8:00 P.M. ET.

She previously hosted the weekend program: “A.M. Joy” (2016-2020) and a daily news show “The Reid Report” (2014-2015).

A 1991 Harvard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual and Environmental Studies with a concentration in documentary film and a 2003 Knight Center for Advanced Journalism fellow, Reid has a longtime interest in politics and elections.

During a hiatus from the news business, she worked as a press secretary for the national voter registration and mobilization entity, America Coming Together in 2004 and for the Florida branch of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

From 2011 to 2014, she was the Managing Editor of theGrio.com, a daily, online news and opinion platform devoted to delivering stories and perspectives that reflect and affect African-American audiences. Reid joined theGrio.com with experience as a freelance columnist for the Miami Herald and as editor of the political blog The Reid Report. She is a former talk radio producer and host for Radio One, and previously served as an online news editor for the NBC affiliate WTVJ in Miramar, FL. Her columns and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, New York Magazine, The Miami Herald, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The South Florida Times.

Reid is the author of Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide, We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama (with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne) and The New York Times best-selling, The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story.

About the Moderator: 

Karsonya Wise Whitehead is the host of Today with Dr. Kaye on WEAA 88.9 FM.   She is the founding director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice, as well as a communication and African and African American Studies professor at Loyola University.    

Program Information: 

• THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT.
• Doors will open to registered attendees at 2 pm. 
• Seating for registered attendees in Central Hall is first come, first served. 
• All registered in-person attendees will receive a free copy of the book. 
• There will not be a book signing following the program. 
• Free parking vouchers are available to program attendees who park at the Franklin Street Garage (15 W. Franklin Street).  Ask Pratt event staff for your parking voucher prior to or after the program.