President Obama broke a 200-year-old tradition when he selected Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation at President Barack Obama’s second public inauguration on Jan. 21. Evers-Williams, 79, will reportedly be the first woman to deliver the invocation and she is the first non-clergy member to deliver the prayer.
“I am humbled to have been asked to deliver the invocation for the 57th inauguration of the President of the United States — especially in light of this historical time in America when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement,” Evers-Williams said in a statement released by the Presidential Inauguration Committee. “It is indeed an exhilarating experience to have the distinct honor of representing that era.”
In 2009, the controversial pastor Rick Warren delivered the invocation.
Inauguration Watch: President Obama Chooses A Woman For Inaugural Invocation
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