Vol. 2, No. 2

February 2015

Apologies: We now have the correct article about Myrlie Evers-Williams.

African-American History Month Spotlight:

Myrlie Evers-Williams

Born in 1933 in Mississippi, Myrlie Evers-Williams is most famous as the widow of Medgar Evers, a lawyer and Civil Rights activist who was assassinated in June 1963. Evers was appointed the Mississippi state field secretary for the NAACP in 1954, and Evers-Williams worked as his secretary. Little did anyone know that, decades later in 1995, she would become the NAACP's first female chair. It turned out Evers-Williams was much more than simply her husband's widow.

After her husband's death, Evers-Williams continued in her career as an activist and journalist. She moved to California to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology at Pomona College. One of her most important goals was to bring her husband's murderer to justice-a goal which at first seemed impossible. The man in question, Byron De La Beckwith, was indicted in the 1960s but not convicted. Finally, she convinced prosecutors to reopen the case in the 1990s, and De La Beckwith was sentenced to life in prison in 1994.

Unlike fellow widows of Civil Rights leaders, Evers-Williams remarried, and was wed to Walter Williams in 1975. She also was appointed to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, the first black woman to ever be appointed. She continued to work with the NAACP and was instrumental in countering its ingrained patriarchy. In addition, she has published two books: For Us, the Living, about Evers' assassination, and Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be, a memoir. All the while, she refused to remain purely a symbol of her first husband's tragedy.

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An Interview with Mother Jones

Brigid Duffy, Equity actor and WWHP board member, will portray Mother Jones at WWHP's Mother Jones fundraiser in March. WWHP Communications Manager Laura Umland sat down with Duffy to discuss how it is to portray such a powerful historical figure. Duffy and Jones have more in common than first greets the eye--both immigrated to the United States from Ireland.

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Laura Umland:

What's your favorite thing about portraying Mother Jones?

BrigidDuffy:

I love her fearlessness...Nothing stops her. She would have an objective in mind and just went after it, no matter what the cost.

Laura Umland:

And what are some examples of some of the times when she did that? I mean, I know there are a lot, but what's your favorite one?

BrigidDuffy:

Can I tell you a couple of them? The one is when the men were afraid to go out and stand up to the bosses. She told them not to do it, to just go to work, and then she got the women and children out with mops and brooms for her mop and broom crusade, and tried to get them rights for the miners, which they couldn't have gotten for themselves. And then the poor little children who worked in the mines...very, very young children. She took them, with their maimed hands from the work they had to do, and marched them in front of the rich bosses' mansions. You know, to prove to them what horrific things they were responsible for.

Laura Umland:

What's the biggest challenge in portraying Mother Jones?

BrigidDuffy:

I think to find the energy and tremendous compassion...And just because she's so full of life, and so full of energy and compassion for these poor people, to just be able to find that and present it in ten minutes. Her sense of humor is another thing. And she never took advantage of any comfort zone and she doesn't expect anybody in the audience we're going to have to find a comfy spot and not get on the feet and do something for somebody.

Laura Umland:

That definitely sounds right from what I know about Mother Jones! So, obviously, Mother Jones has a lot of quotes and anecdotes about her. What's your favorite anecdote?

BrigidDuffy:

There's so many...One thing that she said--she was a woman of faith--she said, "Pray for the dead but fight like hell for the living."

Laura Umland:

Now can you give us a little preview of what you'll be performing at the Mother Jones fundraiser on March 28th?

BrigidDuffy:

Sure. Rosemary Feurer is going to concentrate on Mother Jones and her life, which is in her award-winning film...So, my piece is to present Mother Jones responding to problems we have right now that we need to get active about. Such as immigration; this Right to Work, anti-union busting that Rauner is doing, that has already been adopted in 24 states...Let's see...Sick leave. There are lots of things. But the fact that very little inroads have been made on the immigration issue and on organizing non-union members is shocking, that we're still fighting it, and now we get all these people trying to dissolve unions.

Laura Umland:

Sounds like it will be really interesting.

BrigidDuffy:

We hope! [Laughter]

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Be sure to come see Brigid live as Mother Jones on March 28th!