Women’s History: May 14

Myrlie Evers-Williams

May 14, 1995, Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil rights icon, Medgar Evers, becomes the Chair of the NAACP.  She is the first woman to be elected to the Board of Directors of the NAACP.  When Byron De La Beckwith took the life of Medgar Evers in June of 1963, Evers widow Myrlie continued  the fight for racial equality, even in the face of threats on her own life.

Medgar Evers worked hard to abolish the Jim Crow laws in the early 1950s.  He even dared to try and register to vote.  Myrlie reflected and talked about how dangerous racist Mississippi was in the 50s and 60s:

 …the simple act of registering to vote often brought disastrous consequences to those brave enough to do it: “Their names would be published in the newspaper with their addresses and phone numbers, and they would be harassed by phone calls, people driving by, throwing rocks, eggs, firebombs…. Or the banks would call in mortgages with no notice. People got fired from their jobs immediately. Or lassoed as they were walking home, dragged into a car [and then beaten]. All this because they wanted to vote.

In the 1970s, Myrlie became a strong voice in the women’s movement and helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971.  Evers-Williams wrote several books as well: For Us, the Living and Watch Me Fly: What I Learned On the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be.

In 1975, she remarried Walter Williams.  Unfortunately, Williams died of prostate cancer in 1995. Myrlie served as a consultant for the movie about her life with Medgar, The Ghost of Mississippi. Click here to learn more about Myrlie Evers-Williams.