Highlights of the archival collection that civil rights icon Myrlie Evers-Williams donated to Pomona College will be displayed starting on Monday, Aug. 26 at The Claremont Colleges Honnold Library, 800 N. Dartmouth Ave., Claremont.
“A Voice for Change: The Life of Myrlie Evers-Williams” will be open during regular library hours through Dec. 20. The collection will also be available online.
Evers-Williams enrolled at Pomona College in 1964, a year after the murder of her husband, Medgar Evers. The couple had worked side by side to promote voting rights in Mississippi until Medgar was gunned down in the driveway of their home by a white supremacist on June 12, 1963.
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Evers-Williams fought for justice for decades after her husband’s assassination, stepped forward to lead the NAACP at a critical time and gave the invocation before a global audience of millions at President Obama’s second inauguration.
The exhibit opening in Claremont this month includes items chosen from thousands of photos, documents, campaign materials, and other memorabilia from Evers-Williams’s life during her Southern California years.
“Mrs. Evers-Williams has led in so many ways through her persistence, faith and unshakeable commitment to the cause,” says Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. “…We are honored to be entrusted with her extraordinary legacy of brilliance, strength and – yes – love.”
Earning a degree in sociology from Pomona College in 1968 launched Evers-Williams into a remarkable career in business, civic organizations and activism. She helped to launch the National Women’s Political Caucus, a bipartisan organization, in 1971, and she rose to prominent positions in the corporate world, including national affairs director at Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in Los Angeles.
From 1995-98, she served as chair of the NAACP, helping to turn it around during a low point in its history. She was named “Woman of the Year” by Ms. Magazine in 1998 and was listed as one of the “100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th Century” by Ebony magazine.
On her hopes for the collection, Evers-Williams says she wants to inspire the next generation of leaders. “I hope I encouraged others to run for office. It might have been short-term that I was in the public limelight, but I hope it encouraged others to take the same step. I had a couple tell me that it did, and that meant quite a bit to me.”
In connection with the exhibit, a reception and lecture by Lorn S. Foster, emeritus professor of politics at Pomona, will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Founders Room of Honnold Library.
