Black History Bootcamp. S7. Day 17.
Pleasure Principle 17
Grieve as Gratitude
Pleasure Muse: Myrlie Evers-Williams
Tantalizing Trivia
Myrlie was raised by her grandmother and an aunt, two respected school teachers in Vicksburg, MS.
They encouraged education, so in 1950, she attended Alcorn A&M where she pledged to Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and on her first day of school met and fell in love with Medgar Evers. They got married a year later on Christmas Eve.
The young couple became prominent leaders in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, Medgar, serving as the NAACP’s first Field Secretary in Mississippi. Together they fought for voting rights, equal justice, and the end of segregation.
The Evers Family became a target of the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council.
She said, “Medgar was the love of my life.” She was also quoted saying, “The fear of losing one another was real.”
In 1962, their home in Jackson, Mississippi, was firebombed; in 1963 her husband was brutally murdered in their driveway; and the murderer was exonerated and walked free, because of an all-white jury in Mississippi. In response, protests, vigils, and calls for freedom were widespread.
The world mourned with Myrlie Evers and her three beautiful children. The world watched her lay to rest an American hero, martyr, and civil rights activists - who also served as a sergeant in World War II. He is laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
A photo of her and her son grieving became the cover of Life Magazine; millions watched her tears flow. The NAACP later distributed the image to provoke the moral consciousness of the nation.
As a widow, she moved her children to Claremont, California, and went back to college. She made two bids for U.S. Congress and wrote a book called For Us, the Living, telling her family’s story in Mississippi, and wrote an autobiography called Watch Me Fly.
She became chairperson of the NAACP’s board of directors, was named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine, and was awarded The National Freedom Award. In 2013, she delivered the invocation at the inauguration of the first Black president of the US, Barack Obama.
She went on to marry Walter Williams, a union organizer and moved to Oregon. She committed herself to living a good life.
Myrlie never gave up the fight for justice for her family, and 30 years later in 1993, under a new judge, she pressed for conviction of the murderer - requiring her to exhume Medgar’s body for new evidence - and won the case, sending the murderer to jail for the last 8 years of his life.
Her legendary life was played by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Ghosts of Mississippi and was featured in several other films, including the 2022 film Till.
She said she’s never lived a day of her 90 years without love and has bravely battled hate.
Mirror Work: Say goodbye to someone you lost.
Affirmations:
I feel my feelings.
I am grateful for true love.
Grief is a part of healing.
I turn my grief into goodwill
I rest when I am hurting.
I seek help.
I'm grateful for each day.
I honor the fallen with daily fulfillment and joy.
Grieve as Gratitude: A Playlist
Self-Care Shopping List: Buy and deliver flowers for someone alive who you love very much.
“I come to you tonight with a broken heart. I am left without my husband, and my children without a father, but I am left with the strong determination to try to take up where he left off.” - Myrlie Evers-Williams, 24 hours after the murder of her husband.
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