Westport Center for the Arts and the Kansas City Public Library examine the lives of the unofficial “First Ladies” of the civil rights movement in “The Three Ms” on Sunday, June 29. The new play, written by Jacqueline Gafford, follows the evolving roles of the three women – Myrlie Evers-Williams, Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz – after their husbands were assassinated. The play also notes the special relationship the three widows forged after their husband’s deaths.
Actresses Sherri Roulette-Mosley, Lynn King and Karen Klein Wright assume the roles.
After Medgar Evers’ death, Myrlie Evers-Williams campaigned to bring her husband’s killer, Byron De La Beckwith, to justice and served as the chairwoman of the NAACP from 1995-98. King founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and was an advocate for world peace, and women’s and LGBT rights. Shabazz raised six children and frequently spoke on black nationalism and her husband’s legacy. She later became director of Institutional Advancement and Public Affairs at Medgar Evers College in New York.
Details
- Admission is free
- 2 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at the L.H. Bluford Branch of the Kansas City Library
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