Have No Fear
Subtitle: The Charles Evers Story
Publisher: Wiley; J. Wiley & Sons
Published: November 19, 1996
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780471122517
First sentence: "SLOW DOWN, CHARLIE. You going to get in trouble."
Description: A fierce warrior in his own right, the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers fought on the front lines of the greatest struggle for America's heart and soul since the Civil War. Now, in a work of uncompromising honesty and power, Charles Evers re-creates the raw emotions of those times, conveying all of the rage and hope of a people rising against injustice and demanding equality.

Have No Fear is charged with the passion, conviction, and vigorous spirit of a battle-scarred soldier who has met his foe and emerged victorious.

Charles Evers grew up in Mississippi during the 1920s and '30s. Proud and headstrong, quick to action, he lived by his father's creed: Have no fear. Learning early about the harsh realities of poverty and unrelenting racism, and determined to erase the color line, he forged a special pact with his younger brother: "Medgar and I made a sacred oath as young boys: Whatever happened to one of us, the other would carry on." It was a pact that Charles would honor for the rest of his life.

Shattered by Medgars assassination in 1963, Charles seized his brother's mantle as head of the Mississippi NAACP. His volatile personality alienated many but inspired more - young and old, rich and poor, black and white. Always a shrewd businessman, he became an even shrewder politician, leading the biracial coalition that unseated an all-white Mississippi delegation at the notorious 1968 Democratic convention.

Elected the first black mayor in Mississippi since Reconstruction, he made a courageous run for governor on the campaign promise "Evers for Everybody.".

A blunt, often blistering account of one man's lifelong battle for respect - for both himself and all Americans - Have No Fear is packed with insight and little-known details about Charles Evers's friends and allies - Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nelson Rockefeller, Thurgood Marshall, and Fannie Lou Hamer, among others.