These civil rights activists preserve history through education and community work. Their efforts keep Black history and the movement alive.
Elaine Turner
Elaine Turner’s work is the perfect reflection of civil rights stories extending beyond their familiar 1960s scope. As a lifelong history enthusiast and community and cultural advocate, Turner co-founded Heritage Tours in 1983 in Memphis, Tennessee, alongside her sister Joan. This African American tour company educates travelers about Civil Rights Movement history from the 1960s onward in Tennessee. It is often recognized as one of the first tour companies of its kind in the country.
Sharing stories of African American history, Heritage Tours has a strong emphasis on youth engagement. Turner, who spent 15 years teaching, remains an educator through her role in the company. She is also the director of two civil rights museums: the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum and the W.C. Handy Memphis Home & Museum. Turner’s work welcomes visitors to explore the cultural legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis, and Heritage Tours has attracted visitors from all over the world.
Hezekiah Watkins
A life of civil rights work for Hezekiah Watkins began in 1961, when he was only 13 years old. Inspired by the televised Freedom Riders, Watkins set out to see them in action. This act led to him being mistaken for a member of the movement, and he eventually made history by becoming the youngest person taken to the infamous Parchman Farm, also known as the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
Today, Watkins is an important figure at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, where he continues to push for justice and youth education by sharing his own experiences. He strives to help children better understand the privileges they have and to take advantage of them. He serves as a museum guide and a speaker throughout the state and highlights a variety of destinations to visit for people interested in civil rights history, including the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, as well as the Mississippi Blues, Freedom and Writers trails.
Angela da Silva
St. Louis, Missouri, proclaimed February 7, 1992, as “Angela da Silva Day,” recognizing Angela da Silva’s commitment to acknowledging civil rights through art. This is far from the extent of da Silva’s work, which encompasses ongoing efforts to preserve Black culture through public education and her writings. Since the late 1970s, da Silva has promoted the recognition of Black history in Missouri and throughout the United States for many years.
In 1979, da Silva co-founded the Deep Morgan Neighborhood Arts Council, bringing attention and education to lesser-known aspects of Black culture. In 1998, da Silva founded the National Black Tourism Network to celebrate important figures of the Civil Rights Movement in Missouri as a part of her passion for Black travel. She also organizes the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Celebration in Mississippi each year and frequently stages similar reenactments to commemorate civil rights figures and important events.
Myrlie Evers-Williams
From holding a multitude of important corporate positions in the communications field to becoming a published author, Myrlie Evers-Williams has a decorated career as a civil rights activist. She has focused on causes like voting rights, education and fair housing for many decades. She and her husband, famed civil rights activist and martyr Medgar Evers, accompanied each other on the journey of investigative civil rights activism work in the 1950s and ’60s, making them vulnerable to racist attacks. He also helped her start the first National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Mississippi State Office. After Evers’ 1963 assassination, Evers-Williams continued the fight to further human rights.
Since her husband’s death, she has published autobiographies and civil rights-themed books. To continue Evers’ legacy, she started the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi, which maintains the goal of strengthening Black communities and their quality of life.
Rosetta Miller-Perry
At 90 years old, Rosetta Miller-Perry remains an active member of Tennessee’s Black community, building it up through work in real estate, civil rights and journalism, even after a lifetime of civil rights activism. She worked for the United States Civil Rights Commission and was the Nashville Area Director of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for many years.
In 1992, Miller-Perry founded Tennessee’s first Black newspaper, the Tennessee Tribune, for more coverage of Black-owned businesses and communities. Throughout her journalism career, she brought attention to issues like education and health. She also created the Anthony J. Cebrun Journalism Center in 1998, which focuses on preparing young people for the journalism industry. She received the National Newspaper Publishers Association Award in 2019 and earned a place in the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame, leaving behind an impressive legacy of bettering Tennessee.
