President Barack Obama walks on stage with first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia to deliver his victory speech on election night at McCormick Place November 6, 2012 in Chicago. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Posted: 01/09/2013
WASHINGTON - Civil rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams and evangelical pastor Louie Giglio have been selected to pray at President Barack Obama's inaugural ceremony on Jan. 21.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee says the widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers will pray the invocation 50 years after her husband was gunned down in the driveway of his Mississippi home. The inauguration falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Inaugural organizers say the Rev. Louie Giglio of Atlanta's Passion City Church will pray the benediction at Obama's swearing-in. Giglio hosts the annual New Year's Passion conferences for college-age Christians. An estimated 60,000 attended last week's Passion 2013, which highlighted efforts to end human trafficking.
In a statement, Obama said Evers-Williams and Giglio represent the ideals of justice, equality and opportunity that he pursues.
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