when medgar evers, we know a lot about medgar evers but not everything. when he came from service, he served from d-day to -- . when he came home, he was on his way home on the back of us in uniform with his discharge papers and full of medals. and when the best opt for people to eat lunch, he was left on the bus. i can't even imagine. >> this is in the 1940s? >> yes this is late 40 5:46. i think it was 46. and that year was an election year, midterm election year. and medgar evers and his brother charles had decided that they were going to vote. which no one had ever done in their county. and they, their parents were told, don't let this happen because you are not going to like what happens. the parents told him what this white visitor had said but they did not tell them not to go to the polling place and they did. where they were turned back by guns. and the threat of violence. they turned back and they got their own guns and they walked back towards the polling place, and they were there to find more guns. and they said well we don't really want to get

and medgar evers and his brother charles decided they were going to vote. which no one had ever done in their county. and they they went through the their parents were told don't let this happen because you're not gonna like what happens to them the parents told them what this white visitor had said. but they but they did not tell them not to go to the polling place and they did where they returned back by guns and you know. the threat of violence and they turned back and they got their own guns and walked back toward the polling place and they were about by more guns and decided wait. we don't really want to get killed. so they walk home they were not able to vote in 1946. and i mean it's it's striking to me. that we're still talking about voting rights. there's going to be a debate in the senate tonight. maybe it's going on already about voting rights. how could this be? it's disgusting. there's a a historical precedent relating to this order about. black soldiers returning from world war one and there's a quote that i i could read the quote or do you want

king in the '60s, went to the south after medgar evers was assassinated and supported muhammad ali'sduring the vietnam war. in the '60s, he battled hostile racism in boston. but russell never backed down and stayed politically active into his final years. posting this photo in 2017 in solidarity with nfl players. >> every time i could do something, i seen it as an opportunity. >> reporter: he received an nba lifetime achievement award in 2017. >> where do they find all these tall people? >> reporter: and inspired generations of nba stars, including michael jordan, jayson tatum and magic johnson, who wrote -- >> what a loss, but what a life. joining me now is david aldridge, two has covered the nba for 35 years. talk to me, david, the loss of bill russell here, it's astounding to think about all that he accomplished in his incredibly full life. you call him the g.o.a.t. of winning. talk to me about that. >> well, look, if you just look at his body of work, you look at what he did at the university of san francisco, won two national championships, he went 71-8 as a player. he came to t

i mean, people, you know, in the south who sacrificed medgar evers. you know, you think about all these people and what they faced to make the progress that we now enjoy. and so your question is good one, are we willing to make the sacrifices that they did? we will not face what medgar evers face. you know, there are going to be people shooting you. you don't have to put your life on the line there. crazies out there. but, you know, the stakes are not as high. the physical stakes are not as high. the stakes for our democracy are just as great now as they were back then. that's why i think leadership and the involvement of the american people, the history that we outline shows if you get a committed american citizenry, you can make fundamental change. and so anybody who tells you that, you know, sam and, eric, they just did just wrong. none of this stuff can that's wrong. if we work hard enough for if we commit ourselves to it, the kinds of changes that we're talking about are indeed possible. you both have mentioned this case. so one of the most watch

mississippi and it was a frightening time, and held integrated basketball clinics two months after medgar evers' death. your boston celtics teammate said, don't worry about it, you are going to be ok, just keep a low profile. [laughter] but she went down and held those clinics and talked to young people about the necessity of completing school and becoming economically viable and so forth. bill: well, most of the people as i can see, were economically deprived. and uh, it was one of the places where you can purchase equality. what started as a charity, you could make it a force. i was in boston, and there was a great many courses about why i would go to africa? people told me, that africans don't like you. well the people that were telling me, they didn't like me. [laughter] so, i wanted to go in see for myself. i said ok, and he says, what do you know about africa? what do you know about them, they don't like you. i have family that are friends of mine, and they have been accused of supporting the irish revolution. i remember meeting and sitting with rose kennedy, and i said, if it is all righ

and after medgar evers was assassinated, russell ran an integrated camp at the assistance of ever's brothergroup of prominent black athletes, along with kareem abdul-jabbar, who supported muhammad ali, when he refused to be drafted to serve in the vietnam war, paving the way for activist athletes like colin kaepernick, decades later. russell was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2010, but president obama, said basketball was what russell did, not who he was. >> bill russell, the man, was someone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all men. and i hope that one day, in the streets of boston, children will look up at a statue built not only to bill russell the player, but bill russell the man. >> bill russell and michelle nichols, joined on and off the court, and a legend on this planet and beyond, true trail blazers who changed the landscape for black americans, and for that we thank them both. and that is tonight's reidout. all in with chris hayes starts right now. ght now. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good evening from new york. i am charles blow in for chris hayes. in the last half hour, pre

mayor evers -- maker evers -- medgar evers and the kennedy brothers. "this is what we do until we are free" was great. there's a new book about race and world war ii. i think it is terrific. i love heta mcgee's "the sum of us." "the emergency" about a year during covid. "south to america," where she talks about cuba and haiti. i love clint smith's "how the word is passed." i enjoyed morgan's book as well. i think morgan's book goes along -- have read a lot of memoirs by black women. a whole genre that is very rich of black women who are writers, poets, academics. i think the poetry in the 1619 project is one of my -- it is really brilliant. joy is a friend and her work is usually brilliant. i have been rereading angela davis. i have been rereading her "when they come in the morning," the precursor to the work on black women feminism we are seeing. "change in silence." -- "chained in silence." finally, is a great book by louis martin called "fear of black consciousness." i read "educated." i read comic books. i read fiction. i try to read a lot of stuff

you know, they lost people, you know, medgar evers have been shot down in front of his children, you know, the whole air was of people who absolutely knew they were suffering and why they were suffering and that's a big gain, you know, sometimes in the south people, you know, they they didn't realize what had happened during reconstruction how they just you know and put back into account of surf dumb, you know, so that there was a lot of kind of bewilderment about just how how the world had gone against them. yeah, but in mississippi, you know, there's been so much trouble, you know so much pain people were really very awake and they were standing and they were standing incredible beauty. i mean it makes me right today thinking about you know hearing them singing as they're going up against, you know, enormous pressure and loving and helping each other. i mean real revolution is about helping people. this is about freeing people helping people feeding people teaching children, you know, it's it's so good and and they they had that no people, you know, they were all revolutionaries an

king in the '60s, went to the south after civil rights leader medgar evers was assassinated, and supported muhammad ali's refusal to join the military during the vietnam war. despite helping the celtics win trophy after trophy, in the '60s he battled hostile racism in boston, his home broken into and defaced. but russell never backed down. and stayed politically active into his final years posting this photo in 2017 in solidarity with nfl players. >> every time i could do something, i see it as an opportunity. >> reporter: he received an nba lifetime achievement award in 2017 >> where do they find all these tall people? >> reporter: and inspired generations of nba stars, including michael jordan, jayson tatum, and magic johnson, who wrote, will forever remember his cackling laugh, sense of humor, and love for the game of basketball bill russell was 88 years old. his family said he passed peacefully his wife at his side and my favorite bill russell statistic, he played in 21 winner take all games in the ncaas, the olympics and the nba, and he won all 21. that is a champion. >> they called h