Pomona College Receives the Personal Archives of Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Evers-Williams, the long-time civil rights leader and former chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is donating her personal archives to her alma mater, Pomona College in Claremont, California.

A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, she attended what is now Alcorn State University in Mississippi, where she met her future husband Medgar Evers. After Medgar Evers was appointed field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi in 1954, the couple worked together on voting rights campaigns and efforts to end school segreation. In 1962, their home was firebombed. On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was assassinated while standing in the driveway of his home.

After two all-White juries failed to reach a verdict in trials of the suspected murderer of her husband, Myrlie Evers moved to California. (Medgar Evers’ murderer later was convicted of the crime in 1994.) She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Pomona College. Myrlie Evers ran unsuccessfully for Congress and then worked in advertising and directed community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Inc. She later served on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works. In 1995, she was elected chair of the NAACP.

Now 90 years old, Evers-Williams has donated her extensive archives to Pomona College. The collection focuses on her life after moving to California in 1964; the Mississippi state archives are home to the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers, covering their early years in that state.

The collection, consisting of more than 250 linear feet of documents, ephemera and artifacts, contains thousands of items. Included are photos of her with presidents ranging from Kennedy to Carter to Clinton; buttons, pamphlets and photos from her own 1970 run for Congress; transcripts and correspondence from her 2007 testimony before Congress; and correspondence related to her preparation for the second Obama inauguration, where she gave the invocation. Personal items include her Pomona College ID card, a hardhat from her time as a Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner and the dress she wore while performing piano at Carnegie Hall, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Pomona College will preserve the collection for both academic and, in time, public access through The Claremont Colleges Library, where archivists are organizing and cataloguing the material spanning six decades.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

New Report Sets the Baseline for Future Studies on the Effect of Texas’ DEI Ban on College Campuses

"Ensuring all Texas students have the opportunity to succeed will directly strengthen our workforce and economy," write the report's authors. "While it’s too early to assess the impact of SB 17, continuous monitoring of student outcomes is critical to improving efficiency and maximizing the potential of our future workforce."

Robert Jones Named the First Black President of the University of Washington

Dr. Jones is slated to become the University of Washington's first Black president on August 1. He comes to his new role from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he has served as the institution's first Black chancellor for the past nine years.

Study Uncovers More Evidence That Black Students Are Overrepresented in School Discipline

In an examination of six different kinds of school discipline and punishment, three comparison groups, and 16 subpopulations, a new study has found that "no matter how you slice it, Black students are overrepresented among those punished and excluded."

Jermaine Whirl Selected to Lead Savannah State University in Georgia

“Savannah State has a rich history of producing world class artists, educators, scientists, military leaders, corporate executives and public policy advocates," said Dr. Whirl. "I look forward to working with the students, faculty, staff, alumni and the greater Savannah community to continue the legacy of the state’s first public HBCU.”

Featured Jobs