Monroe E. Evans is an American
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who served as the
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city.
Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
, from 1965 until 1969.
He was the city's first
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
mayor.
Evans helped to lead Fayetteville's
desegregation reforms during the 1960s.
The Evans family are the descendants of
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas ...
who immigrated to the United States.
Monroe Evans's father, Isaac Evans, was born in a
shtetl in present-day
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
in 1877.
[ Evans's brother, Mutt Evans, served as the mayor of ]Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
, from 1951 to 1963.[ His nephew, Eli Evans, is the author of ''The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the ]South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
''.[
As mayor, Evans helped to lead Fayetteville's desegregation during the ]Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
.[ He worked with various city community and civic leaders to work on the transition. In 2001, Monroe told the ''Fayetteville Observer'', "It was a rough time... But I got a lot of good people to work with. It worked here in Fayetteville."][ On February 1, 2001, Fayetteville State University (FSU) honored former Mayor Evans and three others for their efforts during the Civil Rights Movement.]Beth Finch
Beth Dail Finch (1921 – December 27, 2012) was an American politician and businessperson. Finch served as the first female Mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, from 1975 to 1981. She is the only woman to hold that office as of 2021.
Finch was ...
.
References
External links
Fayetteville Observer: The Art of Love (profile on Mildred Monroe)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Monroe
Mayors of Fayetteville, North Carolina
Jewish mayors of populated places in the United States
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Jewish American people in North Carolina politics
Activists for African-American civil rights
21st-century American Jews