(CNN)When people are faced with overwhelming trauma in their lives, some become consumed by their difficulties, while others emerge stronger for it. In special circumstances, they may find their destiny, and seek to heal the world and make all of us stronger. Myrlie Evers-Williams and Sybrina Fulton are two great women whose achievements demand our attention. Although their personal stories are separated by five decades, these women share parallel lives. Thrust into a position of leadership for the greater good of society, they have used personal grief over the loss of a loved one to become agents for change. Each of these extraordinary women experienced unthinkable tragedy: the killing of a black man in their life who was gunned down while still young. Recently, the two women met in person for the taping of a video for CNN and theGrio.
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Three years after Trayvon Martin's killing, his mother meets Medgar Evers' widow
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David Love: Both women confronted injustice, were made stronger by the trauma they endured
Medgar Evers
For the Evers family, the fear of @placeholder's murder was ever present.
Medgar Evers
"Both @placeholder and I knew the day would soon be upon us when he would be killed, and that last night that we had together, I said, 'I can't make it without you,' '' Evers-Williams said.
Myrlie Evers-Williams
Meanwhile, not unlike @placeholder, Sybrina Fulton found her calling through grief nearly 50 years later.
Trayvon Martin
"When this initially happened to Trayvon, we thought this was about @placeholder," Fulton said.
Medgar Evers
Despite the half century separating the death of @placeholder and Trayvon Martin, the grieving women-turned-activists have lived and struggled under similar circumstances.
Trayvon Martin
However, today the country is witnessing a backlash against progress, with a rollback of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, restrictions on the right to vote, and gun laws that endanger black lives such as that of @placeholder.