Joy-Ann Reid to Speak at Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is pleased to announce Joy-Ann Reid as the 2024 Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series speaker. The program will be held on Tuesday, February 13, at 6 p.m. in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums.
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Weapons and large bags are prohibited. Attendees will undergo a quick security screening.
Reid, a New York Times bestselling author, political commentator, and host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, will discuss her latest book Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America with event moderator Ebony Lumumba, chair of the English department at Jackson State University. A book signing will be hosted by Lemuria Books before the program at 5 p.m. in the auditorium.
Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America traces the lives and legacy of civil rights icons Medgar and Myrlie Evers, situating Medgar Evers's assassination as a catalyzing moment in American history.
“MDAH is excited to welcome journalist and author Joy-Ann Reid to Mississippi to deliver the 2024 Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture,” said Katie Blount, director of MDAH. “This will be the first lecture in the series to focus on the historic accomplishments of Medgar and Myrlie Evers.”
The Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series was established in 2003 to honor the legacy of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, one year after Myrlie Evers made an extraordinary gift to the people of Mississippi when she presented the Medgar and Myrlie Evers papers to MDAH.
One of the most significant collections in the department’s care, the Evers Collection has been an invaluable resource as MDAH has worked to develop exhibits for the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
Previous Evers lecturers include Lonnie Bunch, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eddie Glaude Jr., Manning Marable, Robert P. Moses, and Isabel Wilkerson. The series is supported by W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute.
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