President Obama has selected Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights icon Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation at his public swearing-in on Jan. 21, which also happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Evers-Williams is a former chair of the NAACP and has written several books about her and her husband’s civil rights work. Medgar Evers was shot and killed at his Mississippi home in 1963 by a white supremacist, sparking national outcry. His murderer was finally convicted in 1994, after new evidence was brought to trial. The story was also turned into the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi, with Whoopi Goldberg portraying Myrlie Evers.
Evers-Williams is a former chair of the NAACP and has written several books about her and her husband’s civil rights work. Medgar Evers was shot and killed at his Mississippi home in 1963 by a white supremacist, sparking national outcry. His murderer was finally convicted in 1994, after new evidence was brought to trial. The story was also turned into the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi, with Whoopi Goldberg portraying Myrlie Evers.
- 1/8/2013
- by Erin Strecker
- EW.com - PopWatch
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