Governor Son and Slain Husband Honored: Mrs. Malcolm (Mary) Peabody, left, mother of Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, and Mrs. Medgar (Myrlie) Evers, widow of Mississippi Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, victim of a sniper's bullet, smile with Dr. Ralph Bunche at the American Veterans Committee banquet in New York. Mrs. Peabody received an award for her son and Mrs. Evers received one for her late husband.

Born in 1933, Myrlie Evers-Williams was the wife of murdered Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers. While fighting to bring his killer to justice, Evers-Williams continued her husband's important work, most notably with her book, For Us, The Living. She later wrote Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be. Evers-Williams served as chair of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998.

Mary Parkman Peabody (July 24, 1891 - February 6, 1981) was a civil rights activist and a social worker, who was prominent in public affairs in Massachusetts and across the United States. In 1964, at the age of 72, Peabody was recruited by a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to join a Civil Rights demonstration in St. Augustine, Florida. She traveled there and was arrested for participating in a sit-in in a segregated motel dining room. She spent two nights in jail, drawing praise from Martin Luther King, Jr. Her arrest drew a great deal of press coverage because her son, Endicott, was the Governor of Massachusetts. Following her return to Cambridge, Peabody remained active in the Civil Rights struggle and made many public opinions. She also worked for the rights of American Indians.

Ralph Johnson Bunche (1904-1971) was a political scientist, academic, and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel. He was the first black American to be so honored. He was involved in the formation and administration of the United Nations. In 1963, Bunche was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy. For more than two decades (1928 to 1950), Bunche served as chair of the Department of Political Science at Howard University, where he also taught generations of students. He served as a member of the Board of Overseers of his alma mater, Harvard University (1960–1965), as a member of the board of the Institute of International Education, and as a trustee of Oberlin College, Lincoln University, and New Lincoln School. In August 2008, the United States National Archives and Records Administration made public the fact that Bunche had joined the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – the precursor organization to the Central Intelligence Agency – during World War II. Bunche was an active and vocal supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington and also in the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, which contributed to passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 and federal enforcement of voting rights.

Donated to the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College by Michael Mattis and Judy Hochberg on June 2, 2021.

Associated Press ID # 645588087127.

On recto: Typewritten label left of image, "(NY71) NEW YORK, MAY 16-GOVERNOR SON AND SLAIN HUSBAND HONORED-Mrs. Malcom / Peabody, left, mother of Massachusetts Gov. Endicott Peabody, and Mrs. / Medgar Evers, widow of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, / victim of a sniper's bullet, smile with Dr. Ralph Bunche at American / Veterans Committee banquet in New York tonight. Dr. Bunche was the / main speaker at the banquet at which Mrs. Peabody received an award for / her son and Mrs. Evers an award for her late husband. (APWirephoto) 1964 / [illegible]". On label, "Mrs. Malcolm" underlined in red ink. On label, "Peabody" at start of second line circled in red ink.

On verso: Lengthy "ASSOCIATED PRESS" copywrite stamp in red in near center. Handwritten in graphite at bottom left edge: "CVL-LDR-572.1 1800". Stamped in blue ink near left edge: "RSE 31951". Very faintly legible blue ink stamp near center.

Sheet: 8 1/16 x 10

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• American Veterans Committee
• Assassinations
• Banquets
• Civil Rights Movements
• Discrimination
• Dr. Ralph Bunche
• Endicott Peabody
• Female Portraits
• Hate
• Hate crimes
• Injustice
• Male Portraits
• Medgar Evers
• Mrs. Malcolm Peabody
• Myrlie Evers-Wiliams
• New York City
• Widows

• Image Dimensions: 6 11/16 x 8 5/16 in. (16.99 x 21.11 cm)