FOR US, THE LIVING

by Mrs. Medgar & William Peters Evars ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 1967

A lot has happened since the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evars, NAACP field secretary, including a shift of civil rights attention to the Northern cities. Part of this book surveys Evars' participation in the first social and legal efforts to humanize a Mississippi he loved despite everything. By SNCC or Muslim standards, Evars' goals and tactics were far from radical. Yet his courage was extreme. How much personal courage he needed becomes clear as the authors describe a system which inflicts fear, exploitation and murder on passive Negroes--and dealt more of the same to disruptive forces like Evars. His civil rights career began with his discovery, as a young salesman, of the Delta sharecroppers' bondage...and led to a movement which began to speak, demonstrate, boycott and register voters. Missing:ideological analysis of the NAACP or Evars himself, who first dreamed of a Mississippi Mau Mau, then as an activist feared that sit-ins might be too drastic. The other part of the book deals with the Evars' marriage; courtship and death are rendered in a Manchesterian prose for which Mr. Peters is perhaps responsible. Some students, many older liberals will pick this up as a testimonial... It also has limited but unique historial value.

Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION