Emanuel J. Evans, 1907-1997, and Sara N. Evans, 1905-1986

Emanuel J. Evans, 1907-1997, and Sara N. Evans, 1905-1986. . , "Mutt" and Sara Evans were civic, business and faith leaders during Durham's fast-changing, mid-20th century decades. Elected Mayor for a record six terms, Mutt Evans served from 1951 to 1963, holding together a diverse coalition of interests through civility and consideration for all., He oversaw desegregation of various public agencies, including the police and fire departments; improvements in water and sewage treatment; establishment of a fire department company in Hayti; increases in the city's tax base through annexation; and formation of a mayor's Human Relations Committee of leaders from the black and white communities. Progress made during his tenure was instrumental in Durham's later designation as an All-American City, one of Mutt's long-held goals., Sara was widely regarded as Durham's "First Lady" and led efforts such as United Way/United Fund campaigns and the League of Women Voters., A Durham resident since childhood, Sara Nachamson attended Duke University and began managing her family's United Dollar Store when her father fell ill. In 1928, she married Mutt Evans, a Fayetteville native and student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the couple took over the family business, later renamed Evans United Dollar Stores. Even during the Depression, a 24-year-old Mutt showed early business leadership by joining his mother-in-law to calm frantic depositors and avoid a run on Fidelity Bank., The family's department store soon expanded to cover 319-328 Main Street downtown, and six branches were formed in North Carolina and Virginia. United was one of Durham's few white-owned businesses serving African Americans. It had an integrated lunch counter, which Evans had raised to standing height, creatively accommodating the law mandating racial separation for seated service., Sara was a local, state and national leader in Hadassah, the women's Zionist organization. She traveled the South in the 1930s and 40s to urge establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land and served on Hadassah's national board for 40 years. During World War II, Mutt and Sara signed 55 affidavits personally guaranteeing the jobs required for visas for Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Later, Sara lovingly claimed the refugees'sons and daughters as "our children, too." The Evanses created and helped underwrite the Judaic Studies Program at Duke and UNC and were staunch supporters of Durham's Beth El Synagogue, which Mutt served as president for 10 years., Mutt Evans also served on a larger state. He was elected chair of the N.C. Mayors Association for ten years, and in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy, praised Mayor Evans' "integrity and ability," named him a member of the Civil Defense Advisory Council to represent the concerns of towns and cities across the United states., Learn more: www.modh.org/learn/history-groves.