[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S7731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 54--COMMENDING MEDGAR WILEY EVERS AND HIS 
   WIDOW, MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS FOR THEIR LIVES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS, 
DESIGNATING A MEDGAR EVERS NATIONAL WEEK OF REMEMBRANCE, AND FOR OTHER 
                                PURPOSES

  Mr. COCHRAN (for himself and Mr. Lott) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                            S. Con. Res. 54

       Whereas a pioneer in the fight for racial justice, Medgar 
     Wiley Evers, was born July 2, 1925, in Decatur, Mississippi, 
     to James and Jessie Evers;
       Whereas, to faithfully serve his country, Medgar Evers left 
     high school to join the Army when World War II began and, 
     after coming home to Mississippi, he completed high school, 
     enrolled in Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
     presently known as Alcorn State University, and majored in 
     business administration;
       Whereas, as a student at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical 
     College, Evers was a member of the debate team, the college 
     choir, and the football and track teams, was the editor of 
     the campus newspaper and the yearbook, and held several 
     student offices, which gained him recognition in Who's Who in 
     American Colleges;
       Whereas, while a junior at Alcorn Agricultural and 
     Mechanical College, Evers met a freshman named Myrlie 
     Beasley, whom he married on December 24, 1951, and with whom 
     he spent the remainder of his life;
       Whereas, after Medgar Evers received a bachelor of arts 
     degree, he moved to historic Mound Bayou, Mississippi, became 
     employed by Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company, and soon 
     began establishing local chapters of the National Association 
     for the Advancement of Colored People (referred to in this 
     resolution as the ``NAACP'') throughout the Delta region;
       Whereas, moved by the plight of African-Americans in 
     Mississippi and a desire to change the conditions facing 
     them, in 1954, after the United States Supreme Court ruled 
     school segregation unconstitutional, Medgar Evers became the 
     first known African-American person to apply for admission to 
     the University of Mississippi Law School, but was denied that 
     admission;
       Whereas, as a result of that denial, Medgar Evers contacted 
     the NAACP to take legal action;
       Whereas in 1954, Medgar Evers was offered a position as the 
     Mississippi Field Secretary for the NAACP, and he accepted 
     the position, making Myrlie Evers his secretary;
       Whereas, with his wife by his side, Medgar Evers began a 
     movement to register people to vote in Mississippi and, as a 
     result of his activities, Medgar Evers received numerous 
     threats;
       Whereas, in spite of the threats, Medgar Evers persisted, 
     with dedication and courage, to organize rallies, build the 
     NAACP's membership, and travel around the country with Myrlie 
     Evers to educate the public;
       Whereas Medgar Evers' passion for quality education for all 
     children led him to file suit against the Jackson, 
     Mississippi public schools, which gained him national media 
     coverage;
       Whereas Medgar Evers organized students from Tougaloo and 
     Campbell Colleges, coordinated and led protest marches, 
     organized boycotts of Jackson businesses and sit-ins, and 
     challenged segregated bus seating, and for these heroic 
     efforts, he was arrested, beaten, and jailed;
       Whereas the violence against Medgar Evers came to a climax 
     on June 12, 1963, when he was shot and killed in front of his 
     home;
       Whereas, after the fingerprints of an outspoken 
     segregationist were recovered from the scene of the shooting, 
     and 2 juries deadlocked without a conviction in the shooting 
     case, Myrlie Evers and her 3 children moved to Claremont, 
     California, where she enrolled in Pomona College and earned 
     her bachelor's degree in sociology in 1968;
       Whereas, after Medgar Evers' death, Myrlie Evers began to 
     create her own legacy and emerged as a national catalyst for 
     justice and equality by becoming active in politics, becoming 
     a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, running 
     for Congress in California's 24th congressional district, 
     serving as Commissioner of Public Works for Los Angeles, 
     using her writing skills to serve as a correspondent for 
     Ladies Home Journal and to cover the Paris Peace Talks, and 
     rising to prominence as Director of Consumer Affairs for the 
     Atlantic Richfield Company;
       Whereas Myrlie Evers became Myrlie Evers-Williams when she 
     married Walter Williams in 1976;
       Whereas, in the 1990's, Evers-Williams convinced 
     Mississippi prosecutors to reopen Medgar Evers' murder case, 
     and the reopening of the case led to the conviction and life 
     imprisonment of Medgar Evers' killer;
       Whereas Evers-Williams became the first female to chair the 
     64-member Board of Directors of the NAACP, to provide 
     guidance to an organization that was dear to Medgar Evers' 
     heart;
       Whereas Evers-Williams has published her memoirs, entitled 
     ``Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the 
     Woman I Was Meant to Be'', to enlighten the world about the 
     struggles that plagued her life as the wife of an activist 
     and empowered her to become a community leader;
       Whereas Evers-Williams is widely known as a motivational 
     lecturer and continues to speak out against discrimination 
     and injustice;
       Whereas her latest endeavor has brought her home to 
     Mississippi to make two remarkable contributions, through the 
     establishment of the Evers Collection and the Medgar Evers 
     Institute, which advance the knowledge and cause of social 
     injustice and which encompass the many lessons in the life's 
     work of Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams;
       Whereas Evers-Williams has presented the extraordinary 
     papers in that Collection and Institute to the Mississippi 
     Department of Archives and History, where the papers are 
     being preserved and catalogued; and
       Whereas it is the policy of Congress to recognize and pay 
     tribute to the lives and accomplishments of extraordinary 
     Mississippians such as Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-
     Williams, whose life sacrifices have contributed to the 
     betterment of the lives of the citizens of Mississippi as 
     well as the United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That--
       (1) Congress commends Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, 
     Myrlie Evers-Williams, and expresses the greatest respect and 
     gratitude of Congress, for their lives and accomplishments;
       (2) the Senate--
       (A) designates the period beginning on June 9, 2003, and 
     ending on June 16, 2003, as the ``Medgar Evers National Week 
     of Remembrance''; and
       (B) requests that the President issue a proclamation 
     calling on the people of the United States to observe the 
     week with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and
       (3) copies of this resolution shall be furnished to the 
     family of Medgar Wiley Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams.

                          ____________________