LiveWorld Transcripts

Borders.com presents

Myrlie Evers-Williams
Author of "Watch Me Fly"

February 26, 1999

Former NAACP chairwoman and Civil Rights activist, Myrlie Evers-Williams discusses her autobiography, "Watch Me Fly," which charts the course of her turbulent life and highlights the assassination of her husband, life as a single mother and her influential role in public service.

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LoCCCjaw: Thank you for joining us tonight! As Black History Month comes to an end, Borders.com and Talk City are proud to bring you the former chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, in her unique 'instructive' autobiography "Watch Me Fly." Ms. Evers-Williams tells her story, which resonates with images spanning four decades of national struggles - Civil Rights in the sixties, gender and racial barriers in politics and business in the seventies and eighties, and the troubled NAACP in the nineties. With unwavering honesty, she reveals what was happening at the same time in her heart and in her home. And now without further ado, welcome Myrlie Evers-Williams!

Myrlie Evers-Williams: Thank you very much!

Mysterygirl: Myrlie, welcome to Talk City! What would you say has been the toughest obstacle to face? Would you have done anything differently?

Myrlie Evers-Williams: I'll answer the last part. I don't think I would have done anything differently than what actually happened in my life. The most difficult thing I had done was witnessing the murder/assassination of my husband, Medgar Evers, and overcoming the hatred that I felt for the man that pulled the trigger of the rifle and the system that was responsible for encouraging such a hateful act to take place. Needless to say, we all are human and make some errors throughout our lives. I still would not change anything that I have done because I have learned so much from the things that happened in my life. My grandmother, Annie Beasley, quoted the Bible for any occasion. She would always tell me during my toughest times, "All things happen for good, for those who love the Lord." I have taken that to heart.

Enigma: Myrlie, tell us about your book.

Myrlie Evers-Williams: My latest book is titled "Watch Me Fly -- What I learned on the way to becoming the woman I was meant to be." It was published by Little, Brown publishing company in January 1999. I call the book my declaration of independence. It is a story about a woman's growth and development which could be any woman's story. I stated in the beginning of the book that the book "Watch Me Fly" was not about Civil Rights, Medgar Evers, the NAACP, but about me. Any woman who has become a single parent can understand the stories within the book. "Watch Me Fly" takes me through my childhood journey, to college and meeting Medgar the first hour of the first day I was on campus.falling in love with him, and becoming a child bride at age 18 . The difficulties that we had in building a strong and successful marriage, the joy of our three children . of becoming a widow . of making a promise to Medgar.that I would be with him until we have covered the last mile of the way. That promise prompted me to never give up -- in seeing that justice was done. Thirty years after Medgar was assassinated and after years of being told by friends and relatives that I was pursuing a lost cause, Medgar's assassin was convicted in a third trial and sentenced to life in prison. "Watch Me Fly" also looks into corporate America, of a time when women were just beginning to become managers, the challenges that faced us there and the lessons learned and how to survive. I also give a vivid account of my campaign for 24th congressional district in California in 1970, a time when women seldom ran for public office let alone national office. Also, my race for city council, the 10th district in L.A. There is a chapter, titled "Madam Chair," that gives insight into the three years that I was chairman of the board of the NAACP. The political struggles therein, the need to always prove myself (the public's need) time and time again as a leader. There are the joys of motherhood, at times not knowing how I would feed my three children -- of not knowing how to console them over the tragic circumstances of watching their father slain, and then watching them turn into strong, creative adults. Of course there are two beautiful love stories included in "Watch Me Fly." The story of Medgar and Myrlie, and the story of Walter and Myrlie. I have dedicated the book to my second husband Walter Edward Williams. I have described him as my rock of Gibraltar, and the wind beneath my wings. The last segment of the book deals with what now -- or DT, meaning "decision time," a question so many of us, male and female, ask. "What now, what do I do next?" There is an excitement about not knowing what the next step would be. There is a thrill in being able to look at things that we call negative and change the way we view things, the way we change those things negative to challenges, and opening one's arms to life. So I pause now for a brief moment to be still. To embrace life once again. And to know that there are many more roads to travel. With God as my protector and guide everything is still going to be all right.

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