Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown - Hardcover

Lezley McSpadden is the mother of Michael Brown, and founder of The Michael O. D. Brown We Love Our Sons & Daughters Foundation. The organization advocates for justice, improving health, advancing education, and strengthening families. McSpadden also founded its signature program, Rainbow of Mothers, which was established to support mothers who have suffered the devastating loss of a child. She lives in St. Louis, MO with her family.

Lyah Beth LeFlore is the author of eight books, including the novels Last Night a DJ Saved My Life and Wildflowers; the teen book series The Come Up; the New York Times bestseller I Got Your Back, and NAACP Image Award–winning The Strawberry Letter. LeFlore is also a television and film producer who has been profiled in the New York Times, Essence, Ebony, and Entertainment Weekly.

"A vivid, compelling account of a life on the edge."



—Kirkus

"In a year where clashes between young black men and law enforcement fueled concern, and even anger, the death of Michael Brown could have been just one more incident raising questions about the public and policing. Instead, a community came together and ignited a firestorm of national protests that took this issue to another level. Caught in the frenzy, grieving mother Lezley McSpadden launched head first into a new life of activism. This book gives voice to her journey and allows us all to see what one mother can do to find answers."



—Soledad O'Brien

“Lezley McSpadden is putting her light out there for the world to see. She’s communicating with others who’ve experienced unspeakable loss, and even those who will never experience what she has. She is showing how bright and purposeful Mike’s life was and is. She is tirelessly working to eliminate the ignorance that led to her son’s untimely death and to keep the flame alive that will forever honor his legacy.”



— Common, from the introduction to Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil

"An honest, revealing walk through her own life — a personal family history crucial to understanding the full context of Michael’s death and the chaos that followed."

—Washington Post

"Her resilience has inspired many."

— Time.com

Tell the Truth Shame the Devil “tells a story about the girl [Lezley] was beforeand after she gave birth to her son, the woman she grew into raising him andthe fighter she became after his tragic death . . . Lezley McSpadden helped give us a glimpse ofwhat and who Michael Brown was to her. She made him more than a hashtag or acatalyst for a movement. She made him a boy beloved. A boy whose deathrepresented a great injustice not to just the Black community but to thecountry, to the world, to humanity. And beyond the words on the page, it’s heractions since then that have proven that his life, death and the sacrifices shemade and love she showed to him, weren’t in vain.”

— MadameNoire.com

“But as the nationflashes forward, Mike Brown’s family still has to pick up the pieces. This is the story his mother, Lezley McSpadden, sharesin her new memoir, Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil.”

— Colorlines.com

"By now you've heard the story of Michael Brown and his death in Ferguson, Missouri, at the hands of a police officer. His mother, Lezley McSpadden, shares her perspective on his murder and the subsequent trial in Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. Naturally, it's absolutely tragic, but it celebrates the memory of her son and makes the case for change."

— Bustle.com

"The book chronicles McSpadden's life growing up in tough St. Louis neighborhoods, her experiences raising Brown, the devastation his shooting brought, and her push to honor his memory."

— Associated Press

"Her words will hopefully right the wrongs of a society that demonized her son before his body was even lowered into the grave . . . Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil shatters preconceived notions of who you think he was. It is his mother's story as much as it is his. Because to truly see the child, one must first understand the one who gave him life."

— Cosmopolitan