Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Evers-Williams
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher S. Johnso · Public domain · source
Name	Myrlie Evers-Williams
Birth name	Myrlie Louise Beasley
Birth date	17 March 1933
Birth place	Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Occupation	Civil rights activist, author, public servant
Spouse	Medgar Evers (m. 1951; died 1963), Walter Williams (m. 1976; died 1995)
Known for	Chairwoman of the NAACP, widow of Medgar Evers

Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Evers-Williams is an American civil rights activist, author, and public servant, best known as the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and for her own subsequent decades of leadership within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Her life's work, marked by profound personal tragedy, evolved into a sustained commitment to advancing civil rights through institutional stability and moral authority. She played a pivotal role in restoring the NAACP's credibility and financial health during a period of internal crisis in the 1990s.

Early Life and Education

Myrlie Louise Beasley was born on March 17, 1933, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was raised primarily by her grandmother, Annie McCain Beasley, and an aunt, Myrlie Beasley Polk, who were both educators, instilling in her a deep respect for learning and tradition. She attended the then-segregated public schools of Warren County, Mississippi. A talented musician, she enrolled at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) with the intention of majoring in music. It was at this historically black college that she met her future husband, Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran and upperclassman studying business administration. Her early life in the Jim Crow South provided a direct and personal understanding of the systemic inequalities the civil rights movement sought to address.

Marriage to Medgar Evers and Activism

Myrlie Beasley married Medgar Evers in 1951. The couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, where Medgar took a job selling insurance for T.R.M. Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company, a position that involved documenting racial violence and economic discrimination. When Medgar became the first NAACP field secretary for Mississippi in 1954, their home in Jackson, Mississippi became both a headquarters for the movement and a constant target. Myrlie Evers worked intimately as his secretary, confidante, and partner, helping to organize boycotts, voter registration drives, and investigations into crimes like the 1955 murder of Emmett Till. She managed the household and their three children—Darrell, Reena, and James—under the relentless threat of violence, including firebombings and threatening phone calls, embodying the resilience of families who formed the backbone of the movement.

Assassination of Medgar Evers and Aftermath

On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was assassinated in the driveway of their home in Jackson by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith. Myrlie Evers witnessed the shooting. Her subsequent dignified public composure and unwavering demand for justice became a powerful symbol for the movement. She relocated her family to Claremont, California, and dedicated herself to ensuring her husband’s killer was convicted. Beckwith was tried twice in 1964 by all-white Mississippi juries, both resulting in hung juries. For over three decades, Myrlie Evers, alongside dedicated prosecutors like Bobby DeLaughter, persisted in seeking a new trial. Her efforts, documented in her 1967 memoir *For Us, the Living*, were instrumental in the case being reopened. In 1994, based on new evidence, Byron De La Beckwith was finally convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, a landmark victory for the pursuit of justice over racial violence.

Later Career and Public Service

After moving to California, Myrlie Evers earned a degree in sociology from Pomona College. She built a successful career in public service and corporate relations. She served as director of consumer affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and served on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. She also ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1970 as a Democrat from California's 24th congressional district. In 1976, she married longshoreman and civil rights activist Walter Williams, later becoming Myrlie Evers-Williams. She continued her advocacy through writing and speaking, authoring the 1999 book *Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be*. Her career demonstrated a commitment to working within established civic and corporate structures to effect change.

NAACP Leadership and Legacy

In 1995, amid severe financial debt and internal scandal that led to the ouster of its leader, Benjamin Chavis, the NAACP's board of directors elected Myrlie Evers-Williams as its chairwoman. Her election, the first woman to hold the post, was seen as a move to restore the organization's moral authority and traditional mission. As chair, she worked closely with then-president Kweisi Mf Mfume and the 1990lins and the Living, and Mf Mf Mf Mf Mf the Colored People of Colored People (NAACP Leadership of Colored People# 50-year, and the Colored Colored Colored Colored People of Colored People of Colored the Living, and the Colored Persona and the Colored People|Williams, and Legacy and the Living|Myr