Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers
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Name	Medgar Evers
Caption	Medgar Evers, c. 1963
Birth date	July 2, 1925
Birth place	Decatur, Mississippi, U.S.
Death date	June 12, 1963
Death place	Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Death cause	Assassination by gunshot
Occupation	Civil rights activist
Spouse	Myrlie Evers-Williams
Organization	NAACP
Known for	Civil rights activism in Mississippi

Medgar Evers. Medgar Wiley Evers was an American civil rights activist and the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. His work organizing voter registration drives, economic boycotts, and investigations into racial violence made him a pivotal figure in the struggle against Jim Crow laws in the Deep South. Evers' assassination in 1963 galvanized the national civil rights movement and underscored the intense resistance to desegregation and equality.

Early Life and Education

Medgar Evers was born in 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi, the third of five children to James and Jessie Evers. He grew up in a farming family in the rural, segregated society of Newton County, which deeply informed his understanding of racial injustice. Evers attended segregated schools, walking twelve miles each day to the Newton County Training School and graduating in 1943. His early education was typical for African Americans in the Mississippi of that era, limited by the state's underfunding of Black schools as part of the "separate but equal" doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson.

Military Service

Evers was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 during World War II. He served with the 325th Port Company in the European Theater and participated in the D-Day invasion and the subsequent campaigns in France and Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1946 with the rank of Sergeant. His experience fighting for freedom abroad, only to return to the entrenched racial segregation and disenfranchisement of Mississippi, was a formative catalyst for his activism. The contradiction between American ideals and the reality for its Black citizens, a theme highlighted by the Double V campaign, propelled him toward civil rights work.

NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi

In 1954, following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Evers applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School. His application was rejected solely due to his race. This very public denial brought him to the attention of the NAACP, which appointed him as its first field secretary for Mississippi later that year. In this role, based in Jackson, Evers organized statewide membership drives, investigated acts of violence against African Americans, and spearheaded efforts to dismantle Jim Crow laws. He worked closely with national leaders like Roy Wilkins and local activists, including Amzie Moore, to build a grassroots network challenging the state's white supremacist power structure.

Investigation of the Emmett Till Murder

Evers played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the aftermath of the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago murdered in Money, Mississippi. Evers secretly helped identify Till's body and then guided Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley, and her companions through the hostile environment of the Mississippi Delta during the trial of the accused murderers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. He also worked with journalist and activist James L. Hicks to locate key Black witnesses, who were often terrified to come forward. Evers' dangerous undercover work was vital in bringing national media attention to the brutality of Southern racism and the failure of the Mississippi justice system, which acquitted the defendants.

Advocacy and Civil Rights Work

As field secretary, Evers' advocacy was multifaceted. He organized and supported voter registration efforts, knowing political power was key to change, and led boycotts of white-owned businesses in Jackson that refused to hire Black employees. He investigated and publicized violent crimes, such as the 1959 lynching of Mack Charles Parker. Evers also assisted James Meredith in his successful legal battle to desegregate the University of Mississippi in 1962, an event that sparked the Ole Miss riot of 1962. His work made him a constant target of threats and violence from white supremacist groups like the White Citizens' Council and the Ku Klux Klan. His home in Jackson was firebombed in May 1963, just weeks before his murder.

Assassination and Aftermath

On June 12, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationally televised speech endorsing civil rights legislation, Medgar Evers was assassinated in the driveway of his home in Jackson. He was shot in the back with a high-powered rifle. Evers was rushed to the nearby University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The murder weapon was found nearby, and evidence quickly pointed to Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens' Council and an ardent segregationist. 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