Monroe Evans

Monroe E. Evans is an American politician who served as the Mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, from 1965 until 1969. He was the city's first Jewish mayor. Monroe helped to lead Fayetteville's desegregation reforms during the 1960s.

The Evans family are the descendents of Lithuanian Jews who immigrated to the United States. Monroe Evan's father, Isaac Evans, was born in a shtetl in present-day Lithuania in 1877. Evans's brother, Mutt Evans, also served as the Mayor of Durham, North Carolina, from 1951 to 1963. His nephew, Eli Evans, is the author of "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South."

As mayor, Monroe helped to lead Fayetteville's desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement. Evans admitted that he initially "didn't have the fainted idea" the transition to full desegregation beginning in 1965. He worked with various city community and civic leaders to work on the transition. In 2001, Monroe told the Fayetteville Observer that, "It was a rough time,” Evans said. “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. The three others who were honored with Evans were teacher Katie Forshee; James Herring, a former FSU student who helped to elect an African-American candidate, Sylvia X. Allen, to the Fayetteville City Council; and Pat Reese, a late writer for the Fayetteville Observer who died in October 2000.

He later served as an appointed member of the Fayetteville Airport Commission circa 1990 with former Mayor Beth Finch.