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Medgar Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist from Decatur Mississippi. He is best known for his work to overturn racial segregation in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was a World War II veteran. He became a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After the 1954 ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers worked to get African Americans admitted to the all-white University of Mississippi. He also worked for other changes in the nation's then-segregated society, such as voting rights and registration, economic opportunity, and access to public facilities for African Americans. Evers was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the “White Citizens' Council, a group formed in 1954 to resist integration of schools and civil rights activity in America. His murder and the resulting trials led to many civil rights protests. An all-white jury failed to convict De La Beckwith in his first two trials. He was finally convicted, however, 30 years later in a new state trial in 1994 that was based on new evidence. Evers’ wife Myrlie Evers, later became a noted activist in her own right, serving as national chair of the NAACP. His brother Charles Evers became the first African-American mayor elected in the state of Mississippi in 1969 in Fayette, Mississippi.

Medgar Evers
Statue of Medgar Evers.jpg
Born
Medgar Wiley Evers

(1925-07-02)July 2, 1925
Decatur, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedJune 12, 1963(1963-06-12) (aged 37)
Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Cause of deathAssassination
NationalityAmerican
EducationAlcorn State University
OccupationCivil rights activist
Spouse(s)
Myrlie Evers (m. 1951–1963)

(his death)
Children3
Parent(s)James Evers (father)
Jesse Wright (mother)[1]
Medgar Evers (1961)

Early life and Career

Evers was the third of the five children born to Jesse (Wright) and James Evers. The family included his father Jesse's two children from a previous marriage.[2][3] The Evers family owned a small farm, and his father also worked at a sawmill.[4] Evers walked twelve miles to attend segregated schools, and earned his high school diploma.[5] Evers served in the United States Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945. He fought in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944. After the end of the war, Evers was honorably discharged as a sergeant.[6]

In 1948, Evers enrolled at Alcorn College, now Alcorn State University majoring in business administration.[7] He also competed on the debate, football, and track teams, sang in the choir, and was junior class president.[8] He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1952.[7] He married classmate Myrlie Beasley in 1951 while they were still in college.[9] Together they had three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers.[10]The couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a town that was founded by African Americans. There Evers became a salesman for T. R. M. Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company.[11] In 1954, Evers applied to the segregated University of Mississippi Law School as a test case for the NAACP, but his application was rejected because of his race.[12] [13] In late 1954, Evers was named the NAACP's first field secretary for Mississippi.[4] In this position, he helped organize boycotts and set up new local chapters of the NAACP. He was involved with James Meredith's efforts to enroll in the University of Mississippi in the early 1960s.[13] Evers also helped Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr., organize the Biloxi, Mississippi wade-ins, protests against segregation of public beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.[14]

Evers' civil rights work and leadership made him a target of white supremacists. His public investigations into the 1955 lynching of teenager Emmett Till had made him a prominent black leader. On May 28, 1963, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the carport of his home.[15]

Death

On June 12, 1963, Evers pulled into his driveway after returning from a meeting with NAACP lawyers. As he was getting out of his car he was shot in the back and the bullet passed through his heart. He was taken to a hospital in Jackson, Mississippi where he was first refused entry because of his race. After his family explained who he was, the hospital went on and admitted him. He died in the hospital about 50 minutes later.[16]As a veteran, Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.[17][18]

Medgar Evers Media

References

  1. ↑ per Charles Evers bio "Have no Fear" page 5
  2. ↑ "James Charles Evers", Black Past
  3. ↑ "Medgar W. Evers – Civil Rights Activist". mememorial.org. Archived from the original on 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Williams, Reggie. (2005, July 2). "Remembering Medgar," Afro King - American Red Star, p. A.1. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from Black Newspapers.
  5. ↑ Sina, “Freedom Hero: Medgar Wiley Evers.” The My Hero Project, 2005. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
  6. ↑ Evers-Williams, Myrlie; Marable, Manning (2005). The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero's Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches. Basic Civitas Books. ISBN 0-465-02177-8.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Harvard University W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. "EVERS, MEDGAR (2 JULY 1925 - 12 JUNE 1963), CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, WAS..." dubois.fas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Padgett, John B., “Medgar Evers” Archived 2015-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. The Mississippi Writers Page, University of Mississippi. 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  9. ↑ THOMAS United States Library of Congress (June 9, 2003). "Commending Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams for their lives and accomplishments, designating a Medgar Evers National Week of Remembrance, and for other purposes (Introduced in Senate - IS)". thomas.loc.gov. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  10. ↑ Dustin Cardon; Jackson Free Press (January 21, 2013). "Myrlie Evers-Williams". jacksonfreepress.com.
  11. ↑ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (June 24, 2013). "NAACP HISTORY: MEDGAR EVERS". naacp.org. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  12. ↑ Myra Ribeiro (1 October 2001). The Assassination of Medgar Evers. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-8239-3544-4. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Nikki L. M. Brown; Barry M. Stentiford (September 30, 2008). The Jim Crow Encyclopedia: Greenwood Milestones in African American History. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 277–78. ISBN 978-0-313-34181-6. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  14. ↑ Dorian Randall (June 17, 2013). Medgar Evers: Direct Action. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  15. ↑ Hank Johnson (January 21, 2013). "H.Res.1022 - Honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers and congratulating the United States Navy for naming a supply ship after Medgar Evers". beta.congress.gov.
  16. ↑ Birnbaum, p. 490.
  17. ↑ Ellis, Kate; Smith, Stephen (2011). "State of Siege: Mississippi Whites and the Civil Rights Movement". American Public Media. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  18. ↑ Baden, M. M. (2006): Chapter III: Time of Death and Changes after Death. Part 4: Exhumation. In: Spitz, W. U. & Spitz, D. J. (eds): Spitz and Fisher’s Medicolegal Investigation of Death. Guideline for the Application of Pathology to Crime Investigations (Fourth edition), Charles C. Thomas, pp. 174-83; Springfield, Illinois.

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