~Since the 1963 shooting death of Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers-Williams has carried on his civil rights work.

The widow of a slain civil rights activist and former NAACP leader was announced Thursday as the keynote speaker for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner in January.

Since the 1963 shooting death of Medgar Evers, his wife, Myrlie Evers-Williams, has carried on his work.

She founded the Medgar Evers Institution to promote education, training and economic development. In the late 1990s, she became the third woman to lead the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

During the annual celebration dinner sponsored by Southeast Missouri State University this January, Evers-Williams will be featured as the keynote speaker.

"We felt we, as a university, could learn from what she has learned throughout the years and are looking for her to share," said Lincoln Scott, assistant to the president for equity and diversity issues.

The dinner will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Show Me Center, 1333 N. Sprigg St. Other speakers may include a student representative and the university president.

New to the annual event will be a mass city choir, put together by the local churches, according to Scott.

More than 900 people attended last year's dinner, which featured Martin Luther King III as the keynote speaker.

This year, Scott speculated the attendance could reach the maximum of 1,000 allowed and encouraged residents to purchase tickets early.

"We'd love for the community to show up," he said.

Tickets go sale Dec. 1 for $15. They will be sold at the Southeast bookstore, the Cape Girardeau visitors and Convention Bureau, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, the Centenary United Methodist Church, and the Mount Auburn Christian Church.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127