{{Short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Monroe Evans | image = | order = | office = Mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina | term_start = 1965 | term_end = 1969 | predecessor= Wilber Clark | successor = Charles B.C. Holt | birth_date = | birth_place= | death_date = | death_place= | alma_mater = | spouse = Mildred (nee Dlugin) Evans | profession = Democratic }}
'''Monroe E. Evans''' is an American politician who served as the mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, from 1965 until 1969.<ref name=fayob>{{cite news|title=Inside Politics: Cumberland delegation works together |url=http://www.fayobserver.com/local/article_b30db911-d541-51ad-959f-13a23112132e.html?mode=jqm |work=Fayetteville Observer |date=December 2013 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref> He was the city's first Jewish mayor.<ref name=ccplibrary>{{cite news|title=Milestone 1955-2004 |url=http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/milestone-1955 |work=Cumberland County Public Library |date=2004 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref> Evans helped to lead Fayetteville's desegregation reforms during the 1960s.<ref name=jta>{{cite news|first=Anthony |last=Weiss |title=As state shifts rightward, North Carolina Jews raise their voices |url=https://www.jta.org/2014/06/10/news-opinion/united-states/as-state-shifts-rightward-north-carolina-jews-raise-their-voices |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=2014-06-10 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref>
The Evans family are the descendants of Lithuanian Jews who immigrated to the United States.<ref name=jta2>{{cite news|first=Eli |last=Evans |title=Closing the Circle in Atlanta |url=https://www.jta.org/1996/08/08/archive/closing-the-circle-in-atlanta |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=1996-08-07 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref> Monroe Evans's father, Isaac Evans, was born in a shtetl in present-day Lithuania in 1877.<ref name=jta2/> Evans's brother, Mutt Evans, served as the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, from 1951 to 1963.<ref name=jta/> His nephew, Eli Evans, is the author of ''The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South''.<ref name=jta/><ref name=jta2/>
As mayor, Evans helped to lead Fayetteville's desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement.<ref name=jta/><ref name=fayob2001/> 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."<ref name=fayob2001/> On February 1, 2001, Fayetteville State University (FSU) honored former Mayor Evans and three others for their efforts during the Civil Rights Movement.<ref name=fayob2001>{{cite news|first=Jessica|last=Basnov |title=FSU celebrates black history |url=http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_6e7c6153-2a17-5c52-b38e-b1253d76eed0.html?TNNoMobile |work=Fayetteville Observer |date=2001-02-02 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref>
Evans later served as an appointed member of the Fayetteville Airport Commission circa 1990 with former mayor Beth Finch.<ref name=fayob1990>{{cite news|first=Alice|last=Thrasher|title=All Those In Favor Say "Aye" |url=http://m.fayobserver.com/archives/article_84596da1-ff64-57b3-979b-6efea74bcb64.html?mode=jqm |work=Fayetteville Observer |date=1990-05-27 |access-date=2014-06-13}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.fayobserver.com/archives/article_bbfa46e4-d9b9-5f6f-8ff3-0b2fbb9fa3a2.html Fayetteville Observer: The Art of Love (profile on Mildred Monroe)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Monroe}} Category:Mayors of Fayetteville, North Carolina Category:Jewish American mayors Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Jewish American people in North Carolina politics Category:Activists for African-American civil rights Category:21st-century American Jews Category:20th-century mayors of places in North Carolina