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June 6, 2009

Pavilion named for Evers

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The widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers fought back tears Friday as she and dozens of others gathered at an airport pavilion featuring the words and images of the NAACP field secretary gunned down 46 years ago.

Myrlie Evers-Williams has spent a lifetime reminding others that her husband died while fighting for racial equality and said she was thankful for efforts to keep his legacy alive. She spoke at Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi’s largest, named in his honor.

Medgar Evers was a promoter of social change who was killed in the driveway of his Jackson home on June 12, 1963. Born near Decatur on July 2, 1925, he was the son of James and Jessie Evers. He attended elementary school in Decatur and high school in Newton.

‘‘I just want to thank you for what you have done — for remembering Medgar in this way because keeping his memory alive has been foremost in what I have done in my life,’’ Evers-Williams, 76, said as she stood in the Medgar Evers Pavilion at the airport. ‘‘Two things: keeping his memory alive and taking care of his children, everything else has come after that.’’

She was joined by their children and grandchildren at an open house for a pavilion dedicated to his life. The pavilion was unveiled this week and the ceremony was one of several events scheduled to coincide with the 46th anniversary of Evers’ death.

Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of killing Evers and sentenced to life in prison in 1994, more than 30 years after he shot Evers in the back with a rifle. Beckwith died in 2001.

The airport was named after Evers’ in 2004 and officials have since worked on the pavilion, which includes photographs of Evers and other black leaders and walls inscribed with his words. Evers’ vision was to use the power of voting to get blacks better education and jobs, but he was gunned down at the age of 37 and never got see the advancements he helped bring about.

‘‘Perhaps I should still feel some anger,’’ his widow said. ‘‘I’m human and perhaps I do because it can serve as a motivator, but you know, Mississippi is still home and I still love it. And I still like to talk about the good things that have come as a result of what Medgar and so many other people have done.’’

Evers-Williams later became a civil rights leader in her own right, serving as chair emeritus of the NAACP.

Van Evers, 49, was 3 years old when his father died. He looked around the airport pavilion, and seeing blacks and whites together, said his father’s ‘‘dream has come true.’’

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