Widow of civil rights icon to deliver presidential inauguration invocation

Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers, will deliver the invocation at the president's public swearing-in ceremony Jan. 21, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Tuesday.

Evers-Williams, a longtime civil rights activist, noted the historical significance of her invitation in a statement released by the committee.

"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. “It is indeed an exhilarating experience to have the distinct honor of representing that era."

Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s Mississippi field secretary, was killed in the driveway of his Jackson, Miss., home in 1963 in a racially-charged murder that helped fuel the birth of the civil rights movement.

In addition to 2013 being the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement, the president's inauguration falls on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee also announced Tuesday that the Rev. Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion Conferences for young Americans, has been selected to deliver the benediction Jan. 21.