A VOICE OF HOPE

A stirring introduction to Myrlie Evers-Williams, a significant figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Writing in oratorical language, Salomon begins with her subject’s childhood in Mississippi, where “hate ran as deep as the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers,” but the love she received from her aunt and grandmother “flowed stronger than hate and river currents.” Young Myrlie showed the strength of character necessary to confront white bullies and later to keep marching for both racial and personal justice when her first husband, Medgar Evers, was killed; ultimately she achieved the latter in court in 1994, when Medgar’s killer was found guilty. Myrlie went on to become the first woman to chair the NAACP full time. Along with receiving many honors, she also finally realized a lifelong dream when, having had to put musical aspirations inspired by the example of biracial pianist Philippa Schuyler on hold for many years, she played Carnegie Hall in 2012. In realistic but lush, painterly freeze frames, Ladd depicts Myrlie from childhood on—standing up to a cluster of cowed-looking white bullies, raising her fists in celebration of that guilty verdict, and looking on with determination throughout, including on celebratory occasions such as President Obama’s second inauguration, when her voice “rang out like a symphony— / Strong. Soft. Soaring. / And her words echoed hope.”

Definitely strong and soaring.