Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be

Thrust into the public eye when she was 18 as the spouse of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers-Williams has developed a public persona that protects her extremely private life. In this courageous autobiography, she traces her evolution from "the daughter/niece/wife of..." to her own separate identity as a civil rights pioneer, successful businesswoman, and community leader. She explains in the introduction that she "was not always the hopeful, always strong single mother. I was not always nice and forgiving, compliant and ladylike. This is the Myrlie who speaks for herself as herself."

Evers-Williams speaks to all the rumors and assumptions that have been placed upon her as she reflects and discusses the events of her public and private lives. She explores her childhood in Mississippi, her college experiences, her marriage to Medgar Evers, the aftermath of his tragic assassination, her rise in corporate America, and her tenure as the chairperson for the NAACP. In this "instructional autobiography," she crafts wisdom from her own struggles with issues of identity and privacy, offering advice on coping with common struggles like financial independence, single motherhood, and workplace politics. Most importantly, though, Watch Me Fly documents the role of women in the civil rights movement in an unapologetic, honest account that adds a personal perspective to the events described in history books. --Amy Wan