MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS Widow, Mother, Fearless Freedom Fighter

60 YEARS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF HER HUSBAND, MEDGAR EVERS, THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST REFLECTS ON THE PAIN AND POWER OF HER JOURNEY

- JANINE RUBENSTEIN

Myrlie Evers-Williams gazes wistfully at a photograph of Medgar Evers, the decorated Army veteran she married in 1951, when, at just 26, he was already a pioneering activist who would I go on to challenge segregation and fight for civil rights for Black Americans. "The best way I can describe it is he was the love of my life," says Evers-Williams, now 90.

The photo is in a display case in dimly lit basement room at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., where Evers-Williams's personal archives are stored. "I think I kept every scrap of paper," she: says. "I knew deep in my heart that everything my husband was doing and working for could be of use years later. He said, "Keep a record, Myrlie. History is one of the most important things we are going to have in life."" The couple themselves would soon become a key part of history, but not without devastating personal cost. In the early morning of June 12, 1963, after years of working tirelessly as the NAACP's first field secretary in Jackson, Miss., where he organized boycotts and protests alongside his wife to help expand the rights of Black Americans, Medgar Evers was gunned down by a member of the Klu Klux Klan as he stood in the driveway outside his home.

He was 37. Myrlie and their three young children were just inside.