The Honorable Johnny Ford, Founder of The World Conference of  Mayors and Rob Neal, Founder and Executive Director of The International Black Broadcasters Association are proud to announce The World Conference of Mayors  Annual Meeting and The 9th Annual International Black Broadcasters Association Conference will be held in conjunction with the 46th Annual Medgar Evers B.B. King Mississippi Homecoming.  Starting June 4, at the Hilton Hotel, Jackson Ms and the Roberts-Walthall Hotel, downtown Jackson, MS. This will be a three day event filled with thought provoking seminars, The IBBA Awards Luncheon and concluding June 6th with the 46th Annual Medgars Evers B.B. King Mississippi Homecoming. Starring B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland  and Clarence Carter, and Chick Willis.

                                                                            
The Honorable Johnny Ford,
Founder of The World Conference of  Mayors
http://www.worldconferenceofmayors.org/home.htm  

Known today more for his struggles for civil rights in Mississippi and his untimely death at the hands of an assassin than for his writings, Medgar Evers nevertheless left behind an impressive record of achievement.

Medgar Wiley Evers was born July 2, 1925, near Decatur, Mississippi, and attended school there until he was inducted into the army in 1943. After serving in Normandy, he attended Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University), majoring in business administration. While at Alcorn, he was a member of the debate team, the college choir, and the football and track teams, and he also held several student offices and was editor of the campus newspaper for two years and the annual for one year. In recognition of his accomplishments at Alcorn, he was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges. At Alcorn he met Myrlie Beasley, of Vicksburg, and the next year, they were married on December 24, 1951. He received his B.A. degree the next semester and they moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, during which time Evers began to establish local chapters of the NAACP throughout the Delta and organizing boycotts of gasoline stations that refused to allow blacks to use their restrooms. He worked in Mound Bayou as an insurance agent until 1954, the year a Supreme Court decision ruled school segregation unconstitutional. Despite the court’s ruling, Evers applied for and was denied admission to the University of Mississippi Law School, but his attempt to integrate the state’s oldest public university attracted the attention of the NAACP’s national office, and that same year he was appointed Mississippi’s first field secretary for the NAACP. Evers and his wife moved to Jackson, where they worked together to set up the NAACP office, and he began investigating violent crimes committed against blacks and sought ways to prevent them. His boycott of Jackson merchants in the early 1960s attracted national attention, and his efforts to have James Meredith admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962 brought much-needed federal help for which he had been soliciting. Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss, a major step in securing civil rights in the state, but an ensuing riot on campus left two people dead, and Evers’ involvement in this and other activities increased the hatred many people felt toward Evers.

From ABA Journal:
Every year, on June 12, Robert Stepney thinks about Medgar Evers, a college roommate who was like a brother to him.

Shot on that day in Jackson, Miss., in 1963, as he got out of his car in front

Click here to listen to a recorded statement by Mr. Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers.

of his home a little after midnight, Evers died in front of his wife. Even though the NAACP field agent's life was cut short at 37, before he could accomplish all that he intended to do, he has been a catalyst in the civil rights movement before and after his death. Stepney, for instance, believes Evers is one reason why Barack Obama is now running to be president of the United States, reports the SunHerald.

It wasn't until 1994 that Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers, because of apparent racism among authorities and juries and help from others who agreed with his segregationist views. He died in 2001, while serving a prison sentence, the New York Times noted in his obituary.

After serving in World War II, Evers returned home to the segregated South. He applied to the University of Mississippi Law School but was denied admission. As a civil rights worker, he fought to get the state's schools and beaches desegregated, and saw voter registration as a key tactic in combating racial discrimination.

If he were alive today, he would be 83 years old. He would be pleased with the progress made on the civil rights front, but concerned about current issues, says his older brother, Charles Evers. "We have the highest number of black registered voters. The highest number of black elected officials in the nation," he tells the Clarion-Ledger. "That's what Medgar did. Or helped to do."

As Medgar Evers is credited with saying, "You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea."

       
                Ms.Gloria Fitts                                                      
               JIVE  RECORDS
               IBBA 2009 CO-CHAIR
          

 
        Mr. kwasi Kwa
        OPERATIONS MANAGER
        WRBJ-FM JACKSON MS
        IBBA 2009 CO-CHAIR

        
            Mr. Dorian"Lil D" Washington
            Grammy Winning Management
           (Static Major Rap Song of The Year)
             CEO/President Gracie Urban
              IBBA 2009 Honoree