Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Louise Evers-Williams (née Beasley; born March 17, 1933) is an American civil rights activist and journalist who worked for over three decades to seek justice for the 1963 murder of her husband Medgar Evers, another civil rights activist. She also served as chairwoman of the NAACP, and has published several books on topics related to civil rights and her husband's legacy. On January 21, 2013, she delivered the invocation at the second inauguration of Barack Obama.

Early life

Evers-Williams was born Myrlie Louise Beasley on March 17, 1933, in her maternal grandmother's home in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was the daughter of James Van Dyke Beasley, a delivery man, and Mildred Washington Beasley, who was 16 years old. Myrlie's parents separated when she was just a year old; her mother left Vicksburg but decided that Myrlie was too young to travel with her. Since her maternal grandmother worked all day in service, with no time to raise a child, Myrlie was raised by her paternal grandmother, Annie McCain Beasley, and an aunt, Myrlie Beasley Polk. Both women were respected school teachers and they inspired her to follow in their footsteps. Myrlie attended the Magnolia school, took piano lessons, and performed songs, piano pieces or recited poetry at school, in church, and at local clubs.

Myrlie graduated from Magnolia High School (Bowman High School) in 1950. During her years in high school, Myrlie was also a member of the Chansonettes, a girls’ vocal group from Mount Heroden Baptist Church in Vicksburg. In 1950, Myrlie enrolled at Alcorn A&M College, one of the few colleges in the state that accepted African-American students, as an education major intending to minor in music. In Mound Bayou, Myrlie worked as a secretary at the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Domestic life was strained by her husband's formal application to law school as his parents were opposed, Myrlie was expecting her second child, the family was financially restricted and unprepared for the increasing public exposure on his stealthy voting rights activities in the Delta. Reena Denise was born on September 13, 1954, as Medgar was establishing the NAACP in the Delta.

Life with Medgar When Medgar Evers became the Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1954, Myrlie worked alongside him. Evers was murdered in 1963 at his home in Jackson, Mississippi, now the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens' Council in Jackson.

Later career In 1964, a year before Byron De La Beckwith's release, she moved with her children to Claremont, California, and emerged as a civil rights activist in her own right.

From 1973 to 1975, Evers was the vice-president for advertising and publicity at the New-York-based advertising firm Seligman and Lapz. In 1975, she moved to Los Angeles to become the national director for community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). At ARCO she was responsible for developing and managing all the corporate programs. This included overseeing funding for community projects, outreach programs, public and private partnership programs and staff development. She helped secure money for many organizations such as the National Woman's Educational Fund, and worked with a group that provided meals to the poor and homeless.

NAACP honors

Myrlie Evers-Williams continued to explore ways to serve her community and to work with the NAACP. Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley appointed her to the Board of Public Works as a commissioner in 1987.

Other honors In 2017 the Medgar and Myrlie Evers House was named as a National Historic Landmark, and in 2019 became a National Monument.

Accomplishments After leaving her post as chairwoman of the NAACP, Evers-Williams established the Medgar Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi, She also served as editor on The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero's Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches (2005).

Ebony magazine named Evers-Williams as one of the "100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th Century". She has received seven honorary doctorates.

In February 2012, Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi, announced that Evers-Williams would be serving as a distinguished scholar-in-residence.

On January 21, 2013, Evers-Williams delivered the invocation at the second inauguration of Barack Obama. She was the first woman and the first layperson to deliver the invocation at a presidential inauguration.

Personal life On December 24, 1951, she married classmate Medgar Evers. Together they had three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers. Evers was murdered in 1963 by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens' Council.

In 1976, Evers married Walter Williams, a stevedore and civil rights and union activist who had studied Evers and her work. They moved to Bend, Oregon, in 1993. Walter Williams died of cancer in 1995.

Electoral history

Popular culture She was portrayed by Irene Cara in the 1983 television movie For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story. Whoopi Goldberg played Evers-Williams in the feature film historical drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). In 2013, she was portrayed by Gloria Reuben in the Lifetime movie Betty and Coretta (uncredited). Myrlie is the namesake of a song from American rapper Rapsody's 2019 album, "Eve (Rapsody album)". She was portrayed by Jayme Lawson in the 2022 film Till.