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Civil rights legend prepares for Indy visit
By: Brandon Perry
Indianapolis Recorder
Originally posted 6/2/2006
By BRANDON A. PERRY
Staff Writer
This weekend the Indianapolis community will be treated to a rare visit by one of the
primary figures in the national struggle for civil and human rights during the 1960s.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, activist, author and wife of civil rights icon Medgar Evers, will
appear during two events, one that celebrates the achievements of a local service
organization, and another that will enable her to meet people who have followed her
story.
Evers-Williams is the featured speaker and honoree for the 35th anniversary
celebration of the Martin Luther King Center, which is scheduled to take place June 3
from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Children’s Museum, 3000 N. Meridian St.
Diane Jackson, executive director of the Martin Luther King Center, is excited about the
event because it “bridges” two great legacies: That of Martin Luther King Jr. and that of
the Evers family.
“This has just been a blessing and kind of an unexpected gift,” said Jackson, speaking
in regard to both the anniversary and Evers-Williams’ visit. “To have her come and be a
part of this celebration is really exciting. This is a great opportunity for our community to
meet her, because we need to be reminded that we have not arrived.”
After her speech for the Martin Luther King Center, Evers-Williams will participate in a
lecture and book signing at noon June 3 at the Madame Walker Theatre. Following the
lecture she will be in the lobby to sign copies of her books Watch Me Fly: What I
Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be and For Us, the Living.
“We are excited to feature Ms. Evers-Williams,” said Cynthia Bates, president of the
Madame Walker Theatre Center. “She is one of the most respected women in America
today and will surely have a very inspirational and uplifting message to share with the
Central Indiana community.”
A native of Vicksburg, Miss., she was attending Alcorn State University when she met
classmate Medgar Evers, whom she married in 1951. She assisted her husband when
he was the state field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi during the 1960s.
Together they organized voter registration drives and civil rights demonstrations.
But tragedy struck when Medgar Evers was killed in June 1963. Following his murder
Evers-Williams moved with their three children to California, where she received a
degree in sociology from Ponoma College and wrote a book about their experiences.
Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s she worked as a director at Claremont College, made
a run for Congress and became the first African-American woman to serve on the
powerful Los Angeles Board of Public Works. In 1995 she was elected president of the
NAACP and is credited by many observers for restoring that organization to the
effectiveness and prominence it had at the height of the civil rights movement.
Along with Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz, Evers-Williams has long been
honored as one of the prominent civil rights era widows who have remained active in
ensuring that the work of the leaders they married continues.
“Coretta, Betty and I had a very special relationship,” Evers-Williams stated recently.
“We were known as ‘the widows of.’ And we often talked among ourselves about how
difficult it was to be ‘the widows’ - the public expectations of us, our expectations of
ourselves and, first and foremost, how to be the best parents to our children without
their fathers.”
Evers-Williams married Walter Williams in 1975; he died of prostate cancer in 1995.
She has been honored with numerous awards from the Congressional Black Caucus,
the League of Women Voters, and the NAACP and has received numerous honorary
degrees.
The Martin Luther King Center plans to honor Evers-Williams with the gift of a special
quilt by artist Carol White entitled, “Medal of Love for Teaching Us to Fly.”
Established in 1971, the Martin Luther King Center has a mission of serving “children
and families through creative programs that promote hope and a sense of community.”
A United Way agency, the center provides assistance and case management for
thousands of local families, with programs for citizens of all ages, from children to
seniors.
Some of the center’s founders and many longtime supporters will be present during
the anniversary celebration.
For more information about the 35th Anniversary celebration for the Martin Luther King
Center call (317) 923-4581. For more information about her lecture at the Madame
Walker Theater call (317) 236-2099.
Remembering Medgar Evers
Born in Decatur, Miss., in 1925, Medgar Evers is credited with playing a key role in
advancing the cause for civil rights in the deep South. He served in the U.S. Army during
the Battle of Normandy in World War II, but discovered that he would still not be able to
enjoy the rights he fought for after he and five friends were forced away from voting by
gunpoint during an election.
From that day he was dedicated to the struggle for equality. After graduating from Alcorn
State University, where he was a star athlete and debater, Evers became an activist
with the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) and was later appointed field
officer of the NAACP in Mississippi.
In those roles Evers organized a boycott of service stations that denied Blacks use of
restrooms and merchants that discriminated against Black customers, organized
voting rights demonstrations and advocated for the desegregation of the University of
Mississippi Law School and the admission of James Meredith, a case that garnered
national attention.
In 1963, Evers, who was the constant target of threats, was shot and killed in his
driveway after returning from an NAACP meeting. Following a funeral attended by
thousands, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. After the suspected
assassin, Byron de la Beckwith was acquitted in 1964, Myrlie Evers-Williams worked
tirelessly to find new evidence in the case until de la Beckwith was convicted in 1994.
He died in 2001 while serving a life prison term.
Many advocates of positive social change, past and present, have taken to heart
Medgar Evers’ famous statement, “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.”
