For Us, The Living

by Myrlie Evers-Williams, William Ernest Peters Jr.

An extraordinary woman tells a moving story of her courtship and marriage to heroic civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Myrlie Evers describes her husband's devotion to the quest for achieving civil rights for black Mississippians and his ultimate sacrifce on that hot summer night in 1963.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, True Crime, Memoir

378 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

née Myrlie Beasley is an American activist. She was the first full-time chairman of the NAACP and is the widow of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

She twice ran for Congress from California's 24th congressional district. Both times (in a June 1970 special election and the general election later that November) she lost to Republican John Rousselot. In 1971 she helped found the National Women's Political Caucus.

In 1975, Evers-Williams married her second husband, Walter Williams. He died in 1995 of prostate cancer.

She is the author, with William Peters, of For Us, the Living (1967) and Watch Me Fly: What I Learned On the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be (1999). In the best seller, I Dream A World: Black Women Who Changed America, Evers-Williams states that she "greets today and the future with open arms".

Reviews

[forky wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important read about America's south and the fight to end segregation.

[Mistyblue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often people are asked: if you could meet anyone in the world, who would you want to meet? Myrlie Evars-Williams is in my list. This book is an honest recount of her life with her husband, Medgar Evans who was killed as he fought racism and segregation in Mississippi in the 1960s. It is a story of what ordinary people can accomplish. It shows how far we have come, and how far we can still go in our society. It is a story of despair and hope. It was a privilege to read this book.

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could feel her every word.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a Friends' bookstore for $2. It was the 1967 copy complete with the original jacket. I don't know why I say all that. Perhaps because this book was written and published not even 50 years ago. 50 years. That is the blink of an eye when all of this was taking place. We are not that far removed from it. It is still a part of us. Many of these people are still alive. We are still as a country still putting the pieces back together of this horrible and shameful history.
Medgar Evers. What an incredible example of a human being. This doesn't mean that he should be put up on a pedestal. I am not saying that but rather an example. A person who knew what the right thing was. Something that should be common sense to everyone. All people are created equal. How hard of a concept is it to understand? Yet, this man had to dedicate his life doing something that comes so easily to so many, that comes so easily to me. Equal treatment for himself, his family, and his people.
After reading this and just learning about how difficult it was for Mrs. Evers-Williams to just be called by her proper last name, not her first name, just angers me. Just that simple act and how hard she fought for that right. So, Mrs. Evers-Williams thank you so much for this important book. A must read for everyone. An important read for everyone.

[Thomas DeWolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I'm blessed to know Myrlie Evers-Williams as an ally and friend. She provided a quote for the jacket of my book, Inheriting the Trade . This story of her life with Medgar Evers, and of his assassination, was even more powerful to me as a result of our friendship. As the book jacket says, "What emerges in her book is the portrait of a heroic American and of a brave and extraordinary woman."

[Goletagoodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, personal and insightful.

[Kelli Hooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful portrait of her recollection of a horrible tragedy.