A native of Mississippi, Evers-Williams and a fellow student at Alcorn A & M College, Medgar Evers, were married and embarked on business careers, later turning their focus to civil rights. Together, they opened and managed the first NAACP Mississippi State Office and, under constant threats, worked for voting rights, economic stability, fair housing, equal education, equal justice and dignity for African Americans. Medgar Evers was assassinated in 1963; Evers-Williams and her three small children were witnesses to the murder at the front door of their home in Jackson, Miss. After a third trial some 31 years later-- in 1994-- the original suspect was tried and found guilty of murder.
After her husband's death, Evers-Williams started a new life in California, completed her bachelor's degree in sociology at Pomona College, and later worked for Claremont College as a director of planning and development. In the late 1960s she published For Us, The Living (Doubleday), wrote for various magazines and became involved in California politics. She later joined the New York corporate world as a vice president of Seligman and Latz Inc., and served as director of community and consumer affairs for Atlantic Richfield Co.
A subsequent rekindling of interest in politics in California landed her the appointment to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works by Mayor Tom Bradley in 1987. The first black woman to serve as a commissioner of that board, she currently manages 6,000 employees and numerous departments and projects. Her most recent accomplishment was her successful run for chairperson of the National Board of Directors of the NAACP. The NAACP is the oldest and largest and often considered the most effective civil rights organization in the world. It is a network of more than 2,200 branches in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Japan and Germany.
In 1989 Rosalynn Carter was appointed the Distinguished Fellow of the Institute for Women's Studies. Since that time she has worked with the institute to establish the Rosalynn Carter Programs in Public Policy. The centerpiece of these programs is the annual Rosalynn Carter Distinguished Lecture Series in Public Policy, with lectures presented by women who have played a key role in contributing to our nation's public policy and its development. The Honorable Sarah Weddington, who successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the U.S. Supreme Court, inaugurated the series.
The lecture will be held Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. in Winship Ballroom, Dobbs Center. It is free and open to the public. -- Joyce Bell