Original Memory Book for Medgar Evers 50th Anniversary Memorial Service

Medgar Wiley Evers

July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963

Civil Rights Giant American Hero

Honoring His Life, Living His Legacy

Wreath Laying Ceremony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of Medgar W. Evers

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 10:30AM

Old Memorial Amphitheater

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia

ARLINGTON CEMETERY

Following that darkest night of June 12, 1963, when the assassin’s bullet ripped through Medgar’s back, ending his life just as he arrived home, the NAACP and its’ leaders with its’ vast family of constituents across this nation, embraced our family. Our sorrow and despair have by now diminished, to be followed by determination to continue Medgar’s work. For this, I, our children, their children and our extended family, are ever grateful and appreciative.

Today, fifty years later, as we gather here again at Arlington, I recall these words I said then in June, 1963, “so I grieve, but I do not regret. We had a wonderful 11 years together, some people are left with nothing; I have magnificent memories. Medgar didn’t belong just to me – he belonged to so many, many people everywhere. He was so willing to give his life that I feel his death has served a certain purpose. When I find myself in pits of depression, I remind myself that fulfilling this purpose is what he really wanted.”

So I continue to move forward sharing his vision of the future “doing what can be done to help make this a better place in which to live for us, our children and generations to come; to make this a country that is really free, where people can walk, and sit, work and pray, and vote and be elected in the dignity which citizens of this great nation are entitled – and yes, a place to live and die in dignity-”

Myrlie Evers-Williams

Programme

Musical Support for Today’s Ceremony is provided by the United States Army Band Brass Quintet, led by Sergeant First Class Rick Lee

The Presentation of the Colors United States Army

The National Anthem United States Army Band Brass Quintet led by Sergeant First Class Rick Lee

The Pledge of the Allegiance Boys Scouts of America

Baltimore Area Council, Troop 8548

Opening Words of Grace Chaplain Matthew Madison, United States Army

Invocation

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director

Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism Member, NAACP National Board of Directors

Words of Welcome Patrick Hallinan, Superintendent

Arlington National Cemetery

Greetings

Musical Selection

The Hon. Roger Wicker, U.S. Senator for the State of Mississippi

Da’Quan Love, President, Virginia Youth & College

Division of the NAACP President, Student Government Association, Hampton University

John Uzodinma, Violinist

The Occasion Ms. Lorraine Miller, Former Clerk

United States House of Representatives Member, NAACP National Board of Directors

MEDGAR: Civil Rights

Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO, NAACP

Derrick Johnson, Esq., President, Mississippi State Conference, NAACP, Member, NAACP National Board of Directors

MEDGAR: A Man of Faith Dr. Larry B. West, Chairman, Board of Directors National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

Musical Selection NAACP National Staff Ensemble

MEDGAR: The Son of Mississippi The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, U.S. Congress

The Honorable Phil Bryant, Governor State of Mississippi

MEDGAR: Military Service

The Honorable Ray Mabus United States Secretary of the Navy

Musical Tribute VaShawn Mitchell, National Recording Artist

Reflections

Tribute

The Honorable Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States of America

The Honorable William “Bill” Clinton, 43rd President of the United States of America

MEDGAR: The Man Mrs. Myrlie Evers-Williams, Chairman Emeritus National Board of Directors, NAACP

The Ode to Medgar

Mr. Hollis Watkins, Civil Rights Veteran, President & Founder, Southern Echo

The Laying of the Wreath

The Presentation of The U.S. Flag is being presented by U.S. Representative the United States of America Flag Bennie Thompson of Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District, Mississippi’s only African American Congressman. The Flag was flown over the U.S. Capitol in Medgar’s honor.

The Final Tribute

The Benediction Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore

President, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc

“Taps” – United States Army

BiographyMedgar Wiley Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers, the third of five children of Jim and Jesse Evers, was born in Decatur, Mississippi on July 2, 1925. Growing up in Decatur, a small Delta town where it was standard practice to humiliate and beat little Black boys, Medgar learned early to stand up to racism.

Jesse, with three children from a previous marriage, was a dedicated homemaker, a domestic worker for a white family, deaconess of her church and was the quiet force that kept the Evers family together. Jim was a farmer who worked the railroad and sawmill. Medgar walked miles to high school each day. A “zoot-suiter,” widow Myrlie Evers-Williams recounted that he always wore a large, stylish hat tilted to the side. He graduated from Alcorn Agricultural & Mechanical College, now Alcorn State University, with a degree in Business Administration. At Alcorn, Medgar was a track star, a first-string halfback for four years, president of his junior class, vice president of the Student Forum, sang on the choir, served as editor of the Alcorn Herald, and was named in Who’s Who in American Colleges. It was at Alcorn where he developed his passion for political activism.

As the first field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi, Medgar Evers created and organized voter-registration efforts, peaceful demonstrations and economic boycotts to draw attention to discrimination. One of the most visible civil rights leaders in the state of Mississippi, he worked closely with church leaders and other civil rights advocates to promote a democratic society. His life’s work helped increase support for the legislation that would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women.

MEDGAR in the MILITARY

Following in the footsteps of his brother, Charles, and lying about his age, Medgar served two and a half years in the racially segregated U.S. Army during World War II with two years in the European Theater Operation (ETO). The European Theater of Operations directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. He served in the segregated 325th Port Company commanded by white officers. The 325th Port Company followed the Normandy invasion into France delivering needed supplies to soldiers in battle.

Medgar also served on the Red Ball Express, a large truck convoy system lasting about three months in 1944 from August 25 to November 16, primarily operated and driven by African American soldiers and created to deliver supplies to soldiers in combat. The trucks and route were marked with red balls.

While stationed in France, Medgar was profoundly affected by how he was treated by whites. Despite his Black skin, he was treated like a full human causing him to question his return to racist Mississippi.

Medgar received two combat stars for service, the Good Conduct medal and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant.

MEDGAR and the RED BALL EXPRESS

The allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 was the first step in the liberation of Europe. The breakout from the coast occurred 30 days behind schedule but German resistance collapsed so completely that allied forces quickly outran their supply lines creating a near crisis as the Divisions became short of fuel. The only method available to transport supplies was by long haul trucking, an operation that became known as the “Red Ball Express.”

The Red Ball Express was the codename for one of World War II’s most massive logistics operations, namely

a fleet of over 6,000 trucks and trailers that delivered over 412,000 tons of ammunition, food, and fuel to the Allied armies in the ETO between August 25 and November 16, 1944.

Pvt. Medgar Evers, serial no. 34874245, a Quartermaster with the 325th Port Company had already helped secure and unload supplies at the Normandy beachhead. Medgar was then called to help drive across northern France to support the Red Ball Express. Red balls were painted on all vehicles to identify them so they were given the right of way and priority to get to the front.

Medgar’s unit, one of 105 all-African American units in the Red Ball, drove an average of 714 miles roundtrip in a 71 hour period with trucks that kept moving 24 hours a day and seven days a week for 81 days. They moved an average of 8,200 tons a day and about 412,000 tons total. Enemy fire was not the only threat to soldiers of the express. The rush to bring supplies led to safety shortcuts. Governors were removed from the carburetors so the trucks could reach 70 mph resulting in accidents. The skill, enthusiasm,

and dedication to duty of the Black soldiers who served, helped to eventually end the Army’s segregation policies. A total of 122,000,000 tons of supplies got to the front and Patton’s 3rd Army and the 9th Army were able to move into Germany and the end of WWII in Europe.

MEDGAR and CIVIL RIGHTS

It was the segregation in the military that heightened Medgar’s commitment to civil rights. In 1946, after his tour of duty, Evers, his brother Charles, and four other Blacks went to the Decatur County Clerk’s office to register to vote. There were 900 whites and no Blacks registered. On Election Day when Evers, Charles and the four others who dared to register, turned out to vote, some 15 to 20 armed white men surged in behind them at the courthouse and prevented them from exercising their right to vote. Evers made up his mind then that it would not be like that for him, again.

Medgar worked as an agency director with the Blackowned Magnolia Mutual Insurance Company of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, owned by one of the wealthiest Blacks in the state, Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard who was an entrepreneur, surgeon, civil rights leader and founder of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) of which Medgar was a founding member. He helped to organize the RCNL’s boycott of service stations that denied Blacks use of their restrooms. The boycotters distributed bumper

stickers with the slogan “Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Restroom.”

In early 1954, Medgar submitted his formal application for admission to the University of Mississippi Law School. The Jackson Daily News headline read, “Negro Applies to Ole Miss.” While his application was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on public school education in the historic Brown v. Board of Education overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson precedent, which had established racial segregation in schools. Shortly thereafter, the White Citizens Council, dedicated to the preservation of white supremacy and militant resistance to school desegregation, was formed claiming 60,000 members within about a year.

Medgar was interviewed by then Attorney General James P. Coleman, (later Governor) and state school officials. The day after registration, he was informed by school officials that his application had been denied because the two references submitted came from the county of his birth but needed to come from where he resided at the time. Years later, James Meredith enlisted Medgar’s help when he sought admission to the University of Mississippi and in 1962, became the first African American accepted to Ole Miss.

Medgar’s involvement with the Regional Council of Negro Leadership sparked his interest and involvement in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He reorganized the local NAACP

branch and organized one in nearby Cleveland, which eventually grew to 500 members.

MEDGAR and the NAACP

On November 24, 1954, Medgar became the first Field Secretary for the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP where he organized voter-registration efforts, demonstrations and economic boycotts of companies that discriminated against African Americans, and investigated crimes perpetrated against them. He relocated the family from Mound Bayou to Jackson where he and Myrlie, his bride of three years, opened an NAACP office. Myrlie was the backbone of the NAACP office serving as secretary, helpmate, researcher, hostess, chauffer, and musician.

By 1955, Medgar was the youngest man, at age 29, on a nine man “death list.” The list was reduced to eight after Rev. George T. Lee was murdered in Belzoni, Mississippi after refusing to remove his name from a voter registration list. Lee was the first of his race to register to vote in Humphreys County. Evers investigated such injustices as the slaying of Rev. Lee; Lamar Smith who was shot to death in front of the courthouse at Brookhaven, Mississippi for organizing Black voter registrations; the kidnapping, beating and shooting of 14 year-old Emmitt Till; the shooting of Gus Courts, president of the Belzoni NAACP branch; and the beating and shooting of Mack Charles Parker who was accused of raping a white woman. Medgar often disguised himself as a poor sharecropper visiting areas at late night

to secure evidence; the 1955 NAACP publication “M is for Murder and Mississippi” is based on his investigations.

Medgar was a man of action and known as “the man in Mississippi,” “the General” and “the mailman of the movement.” In 1955, only 4.3 percent of voting- age Blacks in Mississippi were registered to vote – that was 21,502 out of 495,138. He mobilized Blacks to register to vote and exercise this right declaring, “the ballot is one of the keys to the solution of the myriad of problems of segregation.”

In 1958, Medgar boarded a Trailways bus in Meridian, Mississippi, took a seat near the front and refused to move at the demand of the driver. He was taken to the police station for questioning. Upon his release, he, again, took a front seat on the bus and was beaten for his actions. It was clear that Medgar was his father’s child for James Evers was known to refuse to step off the sidewalk in deference to whites as they passed, thus earning the name, “Crazy Jim.” His father’s constant preaching, “My family will be able to walk on the sidewalk. [Whites] will treat them with dignity. They will be able to register to vote,” resonated with him. By 1963, only 6.4 percent of Mississippi’s eligible Black voters were registered.

The local Jackson television station, WLBT, regularly aired programs sponsored by the White Citizen’s Council, a group opposed to integration. Medgar’s pleas for equal time were finally granted less than one month before his assassination. On May 20, 1963, Medgar addressed viewers

for 17 minutes, first identifying himself as a World War II veteran and then calling for a democratic Jackson, Mississippi.

The day before Medgar was assassinated, June 11, 1963, the heat was soaring and tempers were flaring in the south.

On June 11th, 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace stood at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in a symbolic attempt to block two Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling at the school.

On June 11th, 1963, a minister and civil rights leader was the target of an attack in Louisiana.

On June 11th, 1963, a civil rights leader in Alabama was nearly beaten to death.

On June 11th, 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer, 15 yearold June Johnson and others were jailed and savagely and sadistically beaten in Winona, Mississippi; Fannie suffered permanent psychological and physical trauma –a blood clot in her eye destroying her vision and severe kidney damage that would surely shorten her life to just 59 years.

On June 11th, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, in response to Governor Wallace’s’ actions in Alabama,

addressed the nation on television and declared, “the heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated…” as he explained the provisions of what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On June 11th, 1963, Medgar Evers left a mass meeting and returned home around midnight.

On June 11th, 1963, Myrlie was home with the couple’s three children.

On June 11th, 1963, white supremacist Byron de La Beckwith hid in bushes across from the Evers’ house at 2332 Margaret Walker Alexander Drive.

On June 12th, 1963, shortly after midnight, Myrlie heard a car pull into the driveway. Gunshots rang out, the children dove to the floor as they had been taught, and she rushed outside to find her husband bleeding from his back; the bullet ricocheted into the family home. Medgar staggered nearly 30 feet before collapsing and died at a hospital approximately 50 minutes later.

Using a high-powered rifle, Enfield 1917, Beckwith had shot Medgar in the back as he emerged from his car with a bundle of “Jim Crow Must Go” t-shirts in his arm. Myrlie stated in an interview, “There has never been a complete recovery from something as traumatic as seeing

and hearing your husband, father, shot down and killed. Those are memories that stay in your mind forever.”

Following Medgar’s death, his brother, Charles, assumed Medgar’s position as state field secretary for the NAACP. Charles went on to become a major political figure in the state; in 1969, he was elected the mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, becoming the first African American mayor of a racially mixed southern town since the Reconstruction.

With Medgar’s death, people took to the streets marching and chanting, “After Medgar, No More Fear.” On June 19, 1963, Medgar Wiley Evers was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors before a crowd of 3,000, the largest funeral at Arlington since John Foster Dulles who served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

MEDGAR, MYRLIE and the FAMILY

It was at Alcorn where a girl, Myrlie Louise Beasley from Vicksburg, met a boy, Medgar Wiley Evers, on her first day of school in 1950. On December 25, 1951, the two were married and settled in the all-Black town of Mound Bayou, now 126 years old. They were blessed with two children by the mid-fifties: Darrell Kenyatta and Reena Denise. James Van Dyke Evers was born in 1960. Medgar’s civil rights work was a major part of his family life as he knew he could make a better future for his children and the children of others.

With the two children, Darrell and Reena, the Evers moved to Jackson and purchased a home for $10,500 on Guynes Street in a middle-class subdivision. Medgar had become a well-known civil rights activist, and they later learned that some neighbors had signed a petition to keep them out of the neighborhood. Despite this effort, the Evers made friends including white friends and flourished.

Medgar’s top salary from the NAACP was $6,100 per year and according to Myrlie’s book, Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be, Medgar would tell her, “Pinch those pennies until they scream, baby.”

Medgar was a news addict especially enjoying Edward R. Murrow while Myrlie was drawn to the soap opera, “As the World Turns.” Books were plentiful and the family outings were mostly visiting friends as there were not many public places open to African Americans except on the occasional “Negro Days.”

Myrlie recalls that Medgar was a wonderful father and treated each child differently. Darrell was his “big boy” who he pushed to “be prepared.” He called Renna “ Punkin” or “Sunshine” and she was definitely a “daddy’s girl” for Medgar could never say “no” to her. Although there were no plans for another child, Van was born and was adored.

Growing up in the Evers home meant listening to their father engaged in heated discussions about church bombings, the Klu Klux Klan, lynchings, demonstrations, police brutality and the work of the NAACP. He would

explain the televised news events and educated them about the unjust society they lived in as people of color and that his work would change things for the better. The family was accustomed to Medgar’s disguise, his “come down” clothes, old overalls and a straw hat, he wore when he needed to help someone in danger. It was all a part of the “underground railroad” of the movement to get move folks to safety.

Because of his civil rights work, Medgar and his family were subjected to constant threats and violent actions. A gun was kept in every room; Myrlie slept with Medgar’s Luger on her nightstand and Medgar kept the shotgun by his side of the bed as well as one in the car. Heidi, the German Shepard, guarded the outside. Medgar’s safety training with the children turned into a game. He taught them to listen for passing cars, drop to the floor if they heard a loud noise and crawl on their bellies as he had learned in the army. He taught them that the safest place was the bathtub.

For the family’s safety, the home at 2332 Margaret Walker Alexander Drive was the only one on the block built with the entrance on the side at the car port. In May 1963, the home was firebombed. Just five days before Medgar’s death, he was nearly run down by a car after he left the Jackson NAACP office. In a June 28, 1962 CBS television interview, Medgar shared that he would constantly receive anonymous telephone calls warning him that they would blow up his home and that he “only had a few hours to live.”

Myrlie recounted how several weeks before Medgar was killed, they talked a lot about death as he was preparing her for life without him. After Medgar’s murder, Myrlie was faced with raising their three children as a single mother. There was no will, no life insurance, the mortgage insurance had expired a week before his death due to non-payment and the car was titled in his name. Money was tight but she had a family to care for and she did just that while taking up the cause of civil rights.

On February 18, 2001, the Evers’ oldest son, Darrell Kenyatta Evers, succumbed to colon cancer. Named for Jomo Kenyatta, the imprisoned leader of the Kenyan anticolonial resistance, Darrell expressed his views through art, and his avant-garde paintings were collected by the likes of Henry Luce II and hair designer Vidal Sassoon. His work reflected on prejudice and on his father’s life and death; one painting was titled, “Oh My God, They’ve Moved in Next Door.”

Daughter, Reena Denise Evers-Everette graduated in 1976 from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with a degree in Business Merchandising. Moving to Washington, D.C., she began a retail career as assistant buyer with a major department store. She later joined United Airlines, retiring in 2010.

Today, Reena applies her leadership and interpersonal skills to support several non-profit organizations. She serves in public relations and administration for East West TeleMedia International, a network design and systems integrator for South African telecommunications interests. She is the public relations coordinator for Lullalee Productions Services, a non-profit organization that promotes children’s literacy and supports Sojourn to the Past, a project that educates secondary students about the Civil Rights Movement. She serves as executive assistant and manager of logistics for the Medgar Evers Institute. Rena has three children, Daniel Medgar, Cambi Denise and Nicole Myrlie, and one grandchild, Daniel Michael.

James Van Dyke Evers, a Los Angeles photographer, is named for Myrlie’s father, James Van Dyke Beasley. Van, as he is called, was only three when his father died. He recounted in a 1998 Baltimore Sunpaper article, “You always have your own memories. Mine are very few: bubble gum cigars and Cracker Jacks on a bunk bed. He came home with them. He gave them to me.” The article continued that after the Medgar’s murder, Van would pick up the phone and ask, “Have you seen my daddy?”

The Evers children are members of an exclusive club no one seeks to join - the sons and daughters of American leaders who gave their lives to the cause of civil rights. But Myrlie knew that Medgar left her children a legacy of courage and integrity. And for herself, she knew that Medgar loved and cherished her.

MYRLIE…CONTINUING THE LEGACY of MEDGAR

After Medgar’s death, Myrlie had a special place in the backyard of their home where she would “talk” with Medgar. She carried his words for her, “One push out of the nest, and girl, watch you fly!”

And, we have watched this woman of grace fly. Hers has been a life of taking chances and trusting God.

Myrlie Louise Beasley Evers-Williams, wife, widow, mother, friend, sisterfriend, civil rights activist, author, corporate executive, pianist, vocalist, chairwoman, author, and speaker are all words to describe this superwoman. Raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi by her paternal grandmother, Annie McCain Beasley, and an aunt, Myrlie Beasley Polk, who were teachers, Myrlie held her first job at age twelve teaching piano lessons and had her first experience with activism in junior high school. She and her friends conceived, organized and executed a strategy to fight back against the white high school boys known as the “courthouse gang” who would torment

them as they traveled to and from school. They were never tormented again by this group.

Myrlie pursued her degree in education with a minor in music at Alcorn A & M College where she met and fell in love with Medgar Wiley Evers. Determined to change the status quo of poverty and injustice experienced by African Americans, she worked with her husband to secure civil rights for African Americans. After Medgar’s death, Myrlie stated, “I am left without my husband and my children without a father, but I am left with strong determination to try to take up where he left off…”

Byron de la Beckwith, a fertilizer salesman with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, was arrested on June 23rd, 1963, charged and acquitted twice by an all-white jury for Medgar’s murder; but, the steadfast determination of a wife, mother and civil rights martyr, Myrlie Evers Williams, would continue her quest for justice for Medgar and her children. Convinced that her husband’s killer had not been brought to justice, she continued to search for new evidence in the case.

In 1989, the question of Beckwith’s guilt was again raised when a Jackson newspaper published accounts of the files of the now-defunct Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. The Sovereignty Commission, also known as the Sov-Com, was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977 and its objective was to “… protect the sovereignty

of the state of Mississippi, and her sister states” from “federal encroachment.” Initially, Sov-Com was formed to coordinate activities to portray the state, and the legal racial segregation enforced by the state, in a more positive light.

Myrlie continued her push for justice for Medgar. The Jackson, Mississippi, district attorney’s office, reopened an investigation into Evers’ death and requested the exhumation of his body from Arlington National Cemetery. Before his body was reburied, owing to his excellent state of preservation, a new funeral was held for Medgar; thus, permitting his children, who were toddlers when he was assassinated and had very little memory of him, to have a chance to see him.

In December 1990, Beckwith was again indicted for the murder of Medgar Evers. After a number of appeals, the Mississippi Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of a third trial in April 1993. Ten months later, testimony began before a racially mixed jury of eight blacks and four whites. In February 1994, nearly 31 years after Evers’ death, Beckwith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison where he died in January 2001 at the age of 80.

Medgar’s death left Myrlie with a family to care for. Setting aside her dream of pursuing a career as a concert pianist, she traveled the country, speaking out against injustice on behalf of the NAACP. In 1967, she co-wrote For Us, the Living, which chronicled Medgar’s life and work. Moving the family to California, Myrlie earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Pomona College in 1968. From 1968-1970, she was the director of planning

at the center for Educational Opportunity at Claremont College and from 1973-1975, Myrlie 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). She was named the first Black woman to head the Southern California Democratic Women’s Division, the first African American appointed a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus.

In 1976, she married Walter Williams, a longshoreman and civil rights and union activist who had studied Medgar Evers and his work. With the NAACP in leadership transition and suffering financially, Myrlie considered running for chairman. But this would prove to be a difficult decision as her husband, Walter, was dying from prostate cancer. Despite his condition, he encouraged her to run for chairman, which she won in 1995, just after he died. As chairman of the NAACP, Myrlie worked to restore the tarnished image of this great organization.

She helped improve the financial status, raising enough funds to eliminate the debt. Her mission complete, she decided to not seek re-election as chairperson in 1998. After leaving her post as chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie established the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi. She also wrote her autobiography, Watch Me Fly:

What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be and in 2005, co-authored with Manning Marable, The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches. She anchored a special HBO production, Southern Justice, the Murder of Medgar Evers.

In December 2012, Myrlie fulfilled a life-long dream, appearing at Carnegie Hall with the group Pink Martini, and, was stunning in her red gown as she played the piano and sang. She was honored and accepted when asked by the Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration in January 2013 - the first woman to deliver a prayer at a presidential inauguration.

She has received many honors for her work, including being named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine. On May 11, 2013, after delivering the 160th commencement address to Ole Miss graduates, Myrlie Evers-Williams became the first person in a decade to be honored with a Humanitarian Award by the University of Mississippi — the same institution that turned away her late husband from entering law school.

Myrlie and her children have continued to preserve the legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers. Because of the work of Myrlie Evers-Williams, the legacy of Medgar Evers is everywhere present in Mississippi and other places.

Today, there are streets, buildings, statues and schools named for Medgar Evers. There is Medgar Evers College in New York and the Jackson-Evers Airport in Jackson, Mississippi. In late 2011, Medgar’s legacy was honored with the christening of the US Navy’s newest supply ship, the USNS Medgar Evers.

Perhaps one of the greatest tributes can be found in changes noted in Mississippi Black History Makers: “Ten years after Medgar’s death the national office of the NAACP reported that Mississippi had 145 black elected officials and that blacks were enrolled in each of the state’s public and private institutions of higher learning.... In 1970, according to statistics compiled by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, more than one-fourth or 26.4 percent of black pupils in Mississippi public schools attended integrated schools with at least a 50 percent white enrollment. When Medgar died in 1963, only 28,000 blacks were registered voters. By 1971, there were 250,000 and by 1982 over 500,000.”

As she continues to commemorate the life, death and legacy of her late husband, Medgar Wiley Evers, Myrlie Evers-Williams cherishes her two surviving children, Reena and James, six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild.

NAACP National Board of Directors

NAACP Special Contribution Fund Board of Trustees

EUGENE

J. DUFFY MARCELLA MAXWELL Ed.D BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUS Chairman Vice Chairman President/CEO

KIM KEENAN THOMAS L.

General Counsel/Secretary Treasurer

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Pamela Alexander

John E. Arradondo

Robert Billingslea

Hon. Laura Blackburne

Zafar J. Brooks

Juan Cofield

Georgette Dixon

Angela Dorn

Sybil Edwards- McNabb

Miguel Foster

Ed Foster- Simeon

Johnny Furr, Jr.

Patrick Gaston

Cecil R. House

Gerald Hudson

Roger D. Johnson

Tanya Leah Lombard

Larrry Lucas

Lamell McMorris

Nathaniel Miles

Rev. Keith Norman

Eric Peterson

Dr. Dwayne Proctor

Dr. Lonnie Randolph

Barbara Sapp Davis

Lewis Shomer

Esther Silver-Parker

Stephanie Silverman

Hilton Smith

Ralph Smith

John Spinnato

Leonard F. Springs

Celois Steele

Thomas E. White

Roy Levy Williams

KALAHAR

PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE

Henry “Hank” Aaron

Earl Graves, Sr.

Myrlie Evers- Williams

Kathleen Thompson-Wilson

Carole Young

NAACP Executive Leadership Team

NAACP Senior Staff

Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and Chief Executive Officer

Roger Vann, Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff

Steven Hawkins, Chief Program Officer and Executive Vice President

Brenda Watkins Noel, Chief Financial Officer

Kim Keenan, General Counsel

Hilary O. Shelton, Senior Vice President for Advocacy

Marvin Randolph, Vice President for Campaigns

Eric Wingerter, Vice President for Communications and New Media

Ana Aponte-Curtis, Vice President of Events Planning

Cathy Grantham, Vice President of Human Resources

Kia Pearson, Vice President, Executive Office Operations

Rev. Nelson Rivers, Vice President for Stakeholder Relations

NAACP FIELD SECRETARIES 1963

L.C. Bates, AR

Leonard Carter, Region IV

Medgar Evers, MS

Sydney Finley, Quad State (IL, MI, IN, MO)

Vernon Jordan, GA

Charles McLean, NC

I. DeQuincy Newman, SC

Robert Saunders, FL

Phillip Savage, Tristate (NY, NJ, PA)

Harold Strickland, OH

Althea Simmons, West Coast (Region I)

U.S. Tate, OK

NAACP REGIONAL FIELD DIRECTORS 2013

Region I (Western)- Sean Dugar

Region II (Northeast)- Marvin Bing

Region III (Midwest)- Dr. Jerome Reide

Region IV (Midwestern) - Kameron Middlebrooks

Region V (Southeast)- Kevin Myles

Region VI (Southwestern)- Carmen Watkins

Region VII (Mid-Atlantic)- Rion Dennis

Youth & College Director- Sasmmie Dow

NAACP State Executive Directors

Dwight James, South Carolina

Amina Turner, North Carolina

King Salim Khalfani, Virginia

Lift Every Voice And Sing

(words composed by James Weldon Johnson; music composed by his brother John Rosemond Johnson)

Lift ev’ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast’ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.