GULFPORT — A longtime community leader in south Mississippi has received the Gulfport Branch of the NAACP’s highest award — the Medgar W. Evers Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lucimarian Toliver Roberts accepted the award in a ceremony Sunday night.
The SunHerald reports that the honor went to the 87-year-old Roberts and her late husband, Air Force Col. Lawrence Roberts, who died in 2004.
Col. Roberts died at the age of 81, three years before President George W. Bush honored him and the other Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal for their bravery, patriotism and flying skills. Their work has been credited with persuading President Harry Truman to desegregate America’s armed forces.
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