Widow of Slain Civil Rights Leader Delivers Inaugural Invocation

January 21, 2013

Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain African-American civil rights leader Medgar Evers, delivered the invocation at President Obama’s second Inauguration. Her spotlight at the historic event came as the nation honored the late Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, America's most famous and influential civil rights leader. VOA’s Chris Simkins reports on Evers-Williams' reflections during the presidential inauguration and how she continues her husband’s legacy of civil rights activism.

It was a shining moment for Evers-Williams, as she delivered the invocation at Barack Obama’s second Inauguration.

Fifty years ago, Evers-Williams' husband, Medgar Evers, was shot and killed by a white supremacist while fighting for equal rights for blacks in Mississippi. Now, decades later, she evoked the spirit of her husband and other civil rights leaders during the second inauguration of the nation's first African-American president.

"The vision of those who came before us and dreamed of this day. They are a great cloud of witnesses unseen by the naked eye but all around us, thankful that their living was not in vain," she said.

For years Evers-Williams has carried on the causes her husband fought and died for. While she remains conscious of the past she also holds great hope for the future.

"I think we have the challenge today of using all of the strengths that we have. It is about humanity its about giving, its about helping each other those were the things civil rights leaders fought for," Evers-Williams said.