We’ve Waited Our Whole Lives for This”

The lives, dramas and triumphs of women just like you

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"We've Waited Our Whole Lives for This"

Twin sisters Courtney and Corrie Cockrell share a shocking family history: 45 years ago their granduncle, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was gunned down by a white supremacist. But with Barack Obama's election came healing, and hope. by sheila weller

Around 7:00 P.M. on November 4, 2008, Courtney Cockrell, a 27-year-old law student, was stuck in traffic and yelling at the radio. She was driving from the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Mississippi, to her parents' house in Jackson to watch the election returns with her twin sister, Corrie, and their family. Barack Obama's victories were coming faster than expected, and she couldn't wait to get home. "First, I heard Maryland went to Obama. Then, a few minutes later, they called Pennsylvania," she said. "I was just screaming to the commentators, `Slow down! I gotta get to my house! I need to be with my fam-

ily for this!'" Continued on next page

Corrie (right) and Courtney in front of their uncle's old home the day after the election

photog r a ph by Reb ecc a G r een fi eld

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A group of mourners, Martin Luther King Jr. among them, march through Jackson, Mississippi, in a funeral procession for Courtney and Corrie's granduncle Evers.

meridian, MISS.: ? flip schulke/corbis. funeral procession: ap images. opposite page, top left: rebecca greenfield; stylist: natalie abernethy; hair: vanessa green for barnette's salon; makeup: kimberly shwaver

Above: Mourners pray over Evers' casket at the train station in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1963. Right: Evers at work.

For Courtney and her sister, the night wasn't just about watching the candidate they'd supported win the presidency. It was a bookend to a family tragedy that happened 45 years ago. On June 12, 1963, Courtney and Corrie's granduncle Medgar Evers, a field officer of the NAACP, was gunned down in the driveway of his Jackson home. The sniper: white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith. Evers' murder would become a defining event in the history of the civil rights movement and he a martyr for the cause. So the entire Evers clan has a unique perspective on Obama's barrier-breaking win. In an exclusive interview with Glamour, Corrie and Courtney tried to put into words what this election has meant to them. CORRIE: The story of our uncle Medgar's murder has been instilled in us since we were babies. We grew up hearing stories about how forceful he was about civil rights during a time when everyone was living in fear. His passion made him a

target--he used to have to sneak over to our mother's house [his niece] because if people knew he was visiting her, she would have been in danger. COURTNEY: He's with us every day. Every year we have a memorial service, which we call a homecoming. There's beautiful gospel music. The whole family comes, and all sorts of people who knew him when. Dionne Warwick has come, and Harry Belafonte. It's always an amazing night. CORRIE: Our grandfather never really got over the loss of his brother. He doesn't talk about Uncle Medgar; he talks to him, as though he were still alive: "Medgar, who would have thought the downtown post office would be named after you!" and "Medgar, can you believe it, they named the Jackson airport after you." COURTNEY: It's true. Granddaddy was older than Uncle Medgar, so he viewed himself as the protector. They grew up quite poor, and when it was cold, our granddad used to get into Medgar's bed for a while

before bedtime, and then he'd get out-- just to make sure that his little brother had a warm bed to sleep in at night. CORRIE: That always resonated for me. Being twins, Courtney and I are so close. I cannot imagine not being there if something bad happened to Courtney.

We were in ninth grade when Byron De La Beckwith was convicted for the murder of Uncle Medgar. He had walked free for 31 years before that. Our parents attended every day of that trial. They would come home from court and tell us that even after all of this time and progress, you could still see the hatred in Beckwith's face. COURTNEY: That man was totally remorseless. During our senior year of college at Tennessee State, our Aunt Myrlie [Medgar's widow] came to visit us on campus and gave a talk to a large group of students. I remember it like it was yesterday. She talked about how much they loved each other and what a struggle it was to be alive at that time. She said they both knew that

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Corrie, left, and Courtney with their mother, Carolyn Evers Cockrell. Right: The twins after Corrie's law school graduation.

1 Watching that beautiful black family walk out as the new first family was something to see.

--Corrie Cockrell, describing an election night high point

1

his work would cost him his life, but that they'd decided it was worth it. CORRIE: After we finished college, both Courtney and I applied to the University of Mississippi. I was going for a law degree, and Courtney wanted a second bachelor's degree. Uncle Medgar applied to Ole Miss Law School, and he was rejected because of his race. So even in 2003, it moved me to be accepted. When I tore that letter open I couldn't believe it. I was like, "Wow!"

I started law school almost 50 years after Uncle Medgar was rejected. Walking to my first class, I looked up and right where I was standing, there was a plaque honoring Uncle Medgar--right outside of the law library! I was incredibly surprised and proud. I called my granddaddy right away on my cell phone and said, "I'm standing in front of a tribute to Uncle Medgar! At Ole Miss!" COURTNEY: It's the coolest feeling. I check out that plaque on campus all the time. I'll walk by it on my way into the library and

just give it a little wink: "Hi, Uncle Medgar! Look what we did!"

I first heard about Barack Obama a few days before the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I was watching C-SPAN. Harold Ford Jr.--a former congressman from Tennessee--was on. He was asked who in the Democratic party really excited him. And he said, "This guy out of Chicago: Barack Obama." I had never heard of him. Then he spoke at the convention. CORRIE: Courtney and I were in our house in Oxford. I was upstairs studying and she was downstairs. We both had our TVs on. We heard his speech--and we were screaming back and forth: "Did you see this man?! Who is this man?" COURTNEY: He was so moving. All of a sudden, I heard myself saying, out loud, "Obama for president!" All of the commentators after the convention were talking about him like he was some crazy anomaly. To me, he just spoke like the people I'd grown up with. He was intelligent and

articulate, and he had this beautiful African

American wife--he was like us! People kept

saying, "Where did he come from?" Like,

"African Americans don't have these ideas!

They don't go to the best schools!" But when

I looked at him, I saw Corrie and me and

our brother and our parents. I recognized

that hard-work ethic, the valuing of educa-

tion, the doing-things-the-right-way way.

It was like he was talking directly to us.

CORRIE: In our family, we were raised to

have a good, solid work ethic. We had a leg-

acy to live up to and family to make proud.

We wanted to achieve for ourselves, of

course, but we also wanted to do right by our

parents and our grandparents and Uncle

Medgar, the people who struggled every

day to make our lives as easy as they are. I

saw the same thing in Obama right away.

He came up like us. He valued the same

things that we valued. Not just because

we're black, but because we're American.

His story made so much sense to me in

that way.

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Real Stories ? glamour women

COURTNEY: I realized how this campaign was going to bring people together the

Courtney Cockrell stands with the

crowds outside of Ole Miss on the day of the first

presidential debate.

day Obama came to Ole Miss to debate

McCain. There were all of these people

there--black, white--all together. I'd made

a sign that read, evers fam for obama,

with pictures of Uncle Medgar and my

granddad on it. People were coming up

and asking me about it--"What did he do?"

It got a lot of conversations going. I was

standing with a woman in her sixties [see

right]. We just had a great time.

CORRIE: The night I remember most was

when Obama accepted his nomination at

the Democratic National Convention. I

was home with my parents. Courtney was away at school. He walked out onto that stadium stage, and all the lights flashed. It was incredible. My mom kept saying, over and over again, "This is what the struggle was about--it was about putting someone of this caliber in the White House." COURTNEY: I remember seeing him hug Michelle and the children after that speech and thinking, I can see that woman in the White House. I like Laura Bush, who to me

1 My granddaddy...kept saying, `Medgar is looking 2 down and seeing this.' --Courtney Cockrell

has always seemed polished and sophis-

ticated. Michelle has that same class and

composure. I love that she comes from that

hard-working, education-valuing family. parking lot. There was a man standing Asian people. When you looked out at the

She could be in our family--in anybody's behind us with a cane. He told us that he'd crowd in Chicago, it was a sea of races.

family. That's also one way that Obama just had a stroke in September, but then CORRIE: That night, nothing felt like it was

reminds me of our uncle. Around the time he said, "I'm not going anywhere. No mat- about partisan politics. It felt like a whole

that Uncle Medgar was coming up, a lot of ter what it takes, I'm going to cast my bal- country coming together for a common

the young people were moving to Chicago, lot today." People were willing to wait for purpose. I think Obama knows that his

to make some money and to get away from hours. I knew right then that it was a good hardest work is yet to come. He's got a lot

all the racism in the South. My uncle didn't sign, but it was a long day! Our mother of work cut out for him, but we're here to

do that--he stayed in Mississippi, where has said, "Sometimes, you just get afraid stand behind him and help this country

his battle was going to be really hard, so to hope." I agree. So much of this, for so become as great as it can be.

that he could make a difference. Uncle long, seemed too good to be true.

COURTNEY: I really think he--no, we--

Medgar could see the potential in the state COURTNEY: And then he beat McCain in can do this. My granddaddy, who was a

of Mississippi, and I think Obama sees the Ohio. We knew he was ahead in the polls, staunch Republican before this race and

potential of this country.

but you never want to assume. When that actually voted for George W. Bush twice,

CORRIE: I always think about what Obama win came through, that's when I knew he was so emotional when Obama won. I

did out of law school, becoming a com- was going to win this thing. You should think he felt like all of the things our fam-

munity organizer. He could have gone for have heard us when they finally made the ily had suffered through were worth it and

the big check and the big house. I've been announcement. Every person in the house that his beloved brother's life was not in

out of law school--I know how hard those had a phone in their hands, calling some- vain. He just kept saying, "Medgar is look-

jobs are to come by.

body else to scream into the phone.

ing down and seeing this."

COURTNEY: I know we've come a long CORRIE: I'm never going to forget what it CORRIE: The next day we were driving

way, but it scares me that there are still felt like to see barack obama is elected around with our eight-year-old niece, Lau-

people who can't wrap their minds around president of the united states come ren. She started asking about civil rights.

the idea of a black man as president. Just across the screen. It was phenomenal. She said, "I know that we didn't used to

before the election two skinheads were And I've got to say, watching that beautiful be able to share drinking fountains, but

arrested near where I live for plotting an black family walk out on stage as the new I didn't know about the other stuff. No

assassination. Things like that make me first family was something to see too.

schools, no libraries, no motels?!" I said,

feel like we still have a long way to go.

COURTNEY: The majority of African "Do you know what happened yesterday?"

CORRIE: But voting was such a positive Americans voted for Barack Obama, but And she said, "Barack Obama became the

experience. When we got to the polls in remember: We never could have done this first black president." For moments like

the morning, the line went through the alone. It took Caucasians, Latinos and that, I just want to thank my uncle. n

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