Myrlie Evers-Williams to Be Simmons Commencement Speaker May 20
Civil Rights Leader, NAACP Chair Emerita to Speak Before 1,200 Simmons College Graduates

BOSTON, MA. (April 27, 2001)—Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and chair emerita of the NAACP, will be commencement speaker at the Simmons College graduation ceremonies on Sunday, May 20.

The ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m. behind the Main Campus Building at 300 The Fenway, Boston, when 1,200 graduating seniors will receive their degrees.

Evers-Williams, who is also a 1989 graduate of the Simmons Graduate School of Management, is a well known civil rights activist, author, and businesswoman. She first came to the public’s attention when she and her children witnessed her husband, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, slain at their doorstep in 1963. Dedicating herself to the cause of equality and activism, in 1995 she was elected chair of the NACCP, where she is credited with restoring the association to its original status as the premiere civil rights organization. She is author of the book "For Us, the Living," and recipient of the Spingarn medal, the NAACP’s highest honor.

Simmons President Daniel S. Cheever Jr. and Trustee Chair Anne Lincoln Bryant will award honorary degrees to Evers-Williams (Doctor of Public Service); Anna Faith Jones, president and chief executive officer of The Boston Foundation (Doctor of Humane Letters); Barbara and Bradford Washburn, internationally recognized explorers and cartographers (Doctors of Science); Barbara Lee ’67, president of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation and champion of social justice and women in politics (Doctor of Public Service); and Beryl Bunker ’40, community service activist (Doctor of Humane Service).

CONTACT

Diane Millikan
617-521-2364

 

 

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