Heritage Awards honors civil rights icons, Robin Roberts’ parents

Robin Roberts returned home Saturday to honor her mother and father as part of the annual Heritage Awards at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino.

Event sponsor Mississippi Power Co. selected four Mississippi trailblazers to honor this year, including Roberts’ parents, Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts and Col. Lawrence E. Roberts. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams and Lawrence Guyot were also honored.

Guests, including prominent black community members and the families of the honorees, watched brief video clips that spotlighted the accomplishments of the honorees.

Roberts and her sister Sally-Ann Roberts, an anchorwoman for WWL-TV in New Orleans, accepted the award on behalf on their mother. Robin Roberts was teary-eyed as she approached the lectern.

“How are you guys able to hold it together?” she asked the audience following video clips describing the life and accomplishments of the honorees.

“I wanted to say, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Mississippi Power and to all the families here tonight.”

The honorees’ accomplishments span areas of endeavor that included education, the military and politics. They all shared a commitment to improving the lives of others.

Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts

Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts was remembered as a beloved military wife, mother, author and community leader on the Mississippi Coast.

Her memoir “My Story, My Song: Mother-Daughter Reflections on Life and Earth” details pivotal moments in her life. Throughout, she describes how her faith provided strength and hope to face her challenges. Robin Roberts capped off each chapter of the book with memories of her mother’s life.

▪  She was the first black person to chair Mississippi’s Board of Education, and worked with numerous community and civic organizations.

▪  She was chair of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum Commission and served at one time on Mississippi Power’s board of directors.

▪  Among the many awards and recognitions she received were the 2011 NAACP Medgar Evers Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2011 Mississippi Medal of Service.

▪  She was a lifetime member of the NAACP, National Council of Negro Women and Harrison County Federation of Democratic Women.

She was married to U.S. Air Force Col. Lawrence Roberts for 57 years. They had four children.

Lucimarian Roberts died Aug. 30, 2012, at her home in Pass Christian.

Col. Lawrence E. Roberts

Col. Lawrence E. Roberts was a Tuskegee Airman who went on to help desegregate the United States Armed Forces.

▪  In 2007, President George W. Bush honored him and other Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian award.

▪  His distinguished military career began when he entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pre-aviation cadet private at Keesler Field in Biloxi in 1943. He was assigned to the Tuskegee Airmen pilot program in 1944.

▪  He served in Vietnam and was awarded the Republic of Vietnam Air Force Distinguished Service Order Second Class award.

▪  He won 18 service medals and awards during his 32 years of meritorious service to his country.

▪  He retired from the military in 1975 at Keesler where his military career began. His impact was so great, the only Mississippi chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Club was named in his honor at Keesler Air Force Base. The consolidated aircraft maintenance facility for the 403rd wing at Keesler was named for him in 2009.

Roberts died Oct. 12, 2004, at his home.

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams, civil rights activists in Mississippi during the 1960s had one of the most profound impacts as a key figure in Mississippi’s Freedom Summer and as the first woman from the state to run for the U.S. Senate.

▪  In 1962, she became a full-time field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, teaching literacy so black Americans could register to vote.

▪  She ran for U.S. Senate in 1964 against Democratic incumbent Sen. John Stennis, who had served 16 years at the time.

▪  She was one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged segregationist politicians. Although she lost to Stennis, the party she helped form and lead went on to challenge the right of the all-white Mississippi delegation to represent the state at the 1964 Democratic National Convention at Atlantic City, N.J. In 1968, Mississippi seated an integrated delegation at the Democratic convention for the first time.

▪  Her papers, housed at the University of Southern Mississippi, represent one of the largest collections of archived materials on Mississippi’s civil rights movement. She is featured in numerous documentaries and films, including “Eyes On The Prize,” “Freedom On My Mind” and “Standing On My Sisters’ Shoulders,” which focus on our nation’s modern civil rights and freedom movement.

Gray Adams died Aug. 12, 2006.

Lawrence Guyot

Lawrence Guyot was a political activist, community organizer and leader in Mississippi’s civil rights movement. He endured numerous arrests, beatings and death threats in the fight for voting rights and political representation for black Americans.

▪  He began working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1962. In 1963, he and several others were arrested and severely beaten by police in a Winona, Mississippi, jail in one of the bloodiest chapters of the state’s civil rights movement.

▪  He became director of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project in Hattiesburg and was the founding chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the credentials of the state’s all-white Democratic Party delegation at the national convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

▪  He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1966, but he gained full credentials as a member of the Mississippi delegation for the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Guyot was born July 17, 1939, in Pass Christian. He died Nov. 23, 2012.

This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Heritage Awards honors civil rights icons, Robin Roberts’ parents."