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85-561: The first chief surgeon of the hospital was T. R. M. Howard , who later became an important civil rights leader in Mississippi and mentor to both Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer , who was often a patient at the hospital. After years of financial pressure, the hospital lost its fraternal status in 1967 when the federal government took it over and put it under the authority of the Office of Economic Opportunity . The hospital, renamed as

170-660: A National Historic Landmark . In 2019, the site was designated a National Monument . The Route 3 Bridge over the Hackensack River is dedicated to Evers. In 2024, Evers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden . Musician Bob Dylan wrote his song " Only a Pawn in Their Game " about the assassination on July 2, 1963, on what would have been Evers' 38th birthday. Nina Simone wrote and sang " Mississippi Goddam " about

255-535: A United States Army veteran who served in World War II , was engaged in efforts to overturn racial segregation at the University of Mississippi , end the segregation of public facilities, and expand opportunities for African Americans , including the enforcement of voting rights when he was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith . A college graduate, Evers became active in the civil rights movement in

340-486: A disc jockey at WHOC, making him the first black disc jockey in the state. By the early 1950s, he was managing a hotel, cab company, and burial insurance business in the town. He had a cafe in Philadelphia and influenced over two hundred black citizens to pay their poll tax. Forced to leave due to local white hostility in 1956, he moved to Chicago . Low on money, he began working as a meatpacker in stockyards during

425-666: A better person. I think Medgar's death was a cathartic experience." A decade after his death, Evers and blues musician B.B. King created the Medgar Evers Homecoming Festival, an annual three-day event held the first week of June in Mississippi. Over the opposition of more establishment figures in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) such as Roy Wilkins , Evers took over his brother's post as head of

510-589: A bid for the open seat of the 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives , facing six white opponents in the Democratic primary. Though low on funds, he led in the primary with a plurality of the votes. The Mississippi Legislature responded by passing a law mandating a runoff primary in the event of no absolute majority in the initial contest, which Evers lost. He also supported Robert F. Kennedy 's 1968 presidential campaign , serving as co-director of his Mississippi campaign organization, and

595-420: A building he owned which he leased to a federal day care program, and used some of the employees for personal business. Evers served many terms as mayor of Fayette. Admired by some, he alienated others with his inflexible stands on various issues. Evers did not like to share or delegate power. Evers lost the Democratic primary for mayor in 1981 to Kennie Middleton . Four years later, Evers defeated Middleton in

680-508: A clip of Evers speaking for civil rights is shown on TV, quickly followed by news of his assassination, and a glimpse of an article by his widow published in Life magazine. The 2020 documentary film "The Evers" features interviews with his surviving family members. The 2022 film Till depicts Evers (played by Tosin Cole ) assisting Mamie Till-Bradley ( Danielle Deadwyler ) seek justice for

765-484: A collection of weapons, intending to assassinate Evers. A white resident tipped off the mayor and the Klansman was arrested. The Klansman defended his motives by saying, "I am a Mississippi white man". Evers' moralistic style began to create discontent; in early 1970, most of Fayette's police department resigned, saying the mayor had treated them "like dogs". Evers complained that local blacks were "jealous" of him. As

850-525: A disc jockey at WHOC in Philadelphia, Mississippi . In 1954, he was made the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) State Voter Registration chairman. After his brother's assassination in 1963, Evers took over his position as field director of the NAACP in Mississippi. In this role, he organized and led many demonstrations for the rights of African Americans. In 1969, Evers

935-649: A free man for much of the three decades following the killing. He had been imprisoned from 1977 to 1980 for conspiring to murder A. I. Botnick . In 1997, De La Beckwith appealed his conviction in the Evers case but the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld it and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear it. He died at the age of 80 in prison on January 21, 2001. Evers was memorialized by leading Mississippi and national authors James Baldwin , Margaret Walker , Eudora Welty , and Anne Moody . In 1963, Evers

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1020-507: A laborer, and Jesse Wright Evers, a maid. He was the eldest of four children; Medgar Evers was his younger brother. He attended segregated public schools, which were typically underfunded in Mississippi following the exclusion of African Americans from the political system by disenfranchisement after 1890. Evers graduated from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi . During World War II , Charles and Medgar Evers both served in

1105-581: A member of a Ku Klux Klan chapter, fatally shot Evers's brother, Medgar, in Mississippi as he arrived home from work. Medgar died at the hospital in Jackson. Charles learned of his brother's death several hours later and flew to Jackson the following morning. Deeply upset by the assassination, he heavily involved himself in the planning of his brother's funeral. He decided to relocate to Mississippi to carry on his brother's work. Journalist Jason Berry , who later worked for Charles, said, "I think he wanted to be

1190-548: A noted activist in her own right, and served as national chair of the NAACP. In 1969, after passage of civil rights legislation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medgar's brother Charles Evers was elected as mayor of Fayette, Mississippi . He was the first African American to be elected mayor of a Mississippi city in the post-Reconstruction era. Medgar Wiley Evers was born on July 2, 1925, in Decatur, Mississippi ,

1275-441: A parking lot. Evers appointed a black police force and several black staff members. He also benefitted from an influx of young, white liberal volunteers who wanted to assist a civil rights leader. Many ended up leaving after growing disillusioned with Evers' pursuit of personal financial success and domineering leadership style. Evers sought to make Fayette an upstanding community and a symbolic refuge for black people. Repulsed by

1360-541: A series of successful black boycotts in southwestern Mississippi which partnered with the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice , which won concessions from the Natchez authorities and ratified his unconventional boycott methods. Often accompanied by a group of 65 male followers, he would pressure local blacks in small towns to avoid stores under boycott and directly challenge white business leaders. He also led

1445-646: A statue of Evers was erected at his alma mater, Alcorn State University, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Evers' death. Alumni and guests from around the world gathered to recognize his contributions to American society. Evers was also honored in a tribute at Arlington National Cemetery on the 50th anniversary of his death. Former President Bill Clinton , Attorney General Eric Holder , Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Senator Roger Wicker , and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous all spoke commemorating Evers. Evers's widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, spoke of his contributions to

1530-588: A town developed by African Americans after the Civil War. Evers became a salesman for T. R. M. Howard 's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Becoming active in the civil rights movement, he served as president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), which began to organize actions to end segregation; Evers helped organize the RCNL's boycott of those gasoline stations that denied blacks

1615-474: A variety of backgrounds, as well as his advising of politicians from across the political spectrum. After his political career ended, he returned to radio and hosted his own show, Let's Talk . In 2017, Evers was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for his contributions to the music industry. Charles Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi , on September 11, 1922, to James Evers,

1700-431: A verdict. At the time, most black people were still disenfranchised by Mississippi's constitution and voter registration practices; this meant they were also excluded from juries, which were drawn from the pool of registered voters. Myrlie Evers did not give up the fight for the conviction of her husband's killer. She waited until a new judge had been assigned in the county to take her case against De La Beckwith back into

1785-425: A veteran, Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery . His murder and the resulting trials inspired civil rights protests. His life and death have inspired numerous works of art, music, and film. Although all-white juries failed to reach verdicts in the first two trials of De La Beckwith in the 1960s, he was convicted in 1994 based on new evidence. Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers , became

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1870-480: A voter registration campaign. He coordinated his efforts from the small town of Fayette in Jefferson County . Fayette was a small, economically depressed town of about 2,500 people. About three-fourths of the population was black, and they had long been socially and economically subordinate to the white minority. Evers moved the NAACP's Mississippi field office from Jackson to Fayette to take advantage of

1955-678: Is the imagined assassin of Medgar Evers, was published in The New Yorker in July 1963. Attorney Bobby DeLaughter wrote a first-person narrative article entitled "Mississippi Justice" published in Reader's Digest about his experiences as state prosecutor in the murder trial. He added to this account in a book, Never Too Late: A Prosecutor's Story of Justice in the Medgar Evers Case (2001). In Remembering Medgar Evers: Writing

2040-471: The 1971 gubernatorial election as an independent, kicking off his campaign with a rally in Decatur. He later explained his reason for launching the bid, saying, "I ran for governor because if someone doesn't start running, there will never be a black man or a black woman governor of the state of Mississippi." He endorsed white segregationist Jimmy Swan in the Democratic primary, reasoning that if Swan won

2125-719: The Good Conduct Medal , European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal , and World War II Victory Medal . After returning to Decatur, Evers enrolled at the historically black Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1948, majoring in business administration. He also competed on the debate, football, and track teams, sang in the choir, and was elected as junior class president. Evers earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1952. On December 24, 1951, Evers married classmate Myrlie Beasley . Together they had three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers. The couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi ,

2210-539: The Ku Klux Klan were present in Jackson and its suburbs. The risk was so high that before his death, Evers and his wife, Myrlie, had trained their children on what to do in case of a shooting, bombing, or other kind of attack on their lives. Evers, who was regularly followed home by at least two FBI cars and a police car, arrived at his home on the morning of his death without an escort. None of his usual protection

2295-661: The Mississippi State Fair . Evers' civil rights leadership, along with his investigative work, made him a target of white supremacists . Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision, local whites founded the White Citizens' Council in Mississippi, and numerous local chapters were started, to resist the integration of schools and facilities. In the weeks before Evers was killed, he encountered new levels of hostility. Evers' public investigations into

2380-657: The United States Army at the age of 17; he was prompted to do so by the racism he experienced at home and Charles' prior enlistment in the Army. Evers served in the 657th Port Company , a segregated unit of the Army's Transportation Corps , participating in the Normandy landings on June 1944. In France, Evers' unit was part of the Red Ball Express , which delivered supplies to Allied troops fighting on

2465-578: The United States Army . Charles fell in love with a Philippine woman while stationed overseas. He could not marry her and bring her home to Mississippi because the state's constitution prohibited interracial marriages. During the war he established a brothel in Quezon City which catered to American servicemen. After serving a year of reserve duty following the Korean War , he settled in Philadelphia, Mississippi . In 1949, he began working as

2550-471: The United States Senate in 1978, both times as an independent candidate. In 1989, Evers was defeated for re-election after serving sixteen years as mayor. In his later life, he became a Republican, endorsing Ronald Reagan in 1980, and more recently Donald Trump in 2016. This diversity in party affiliations throughout his life was reflected in his fostering of friendships with people from

2635-539: The University of Mississippi Medical Center . During construction, effort will be placed on maintaining the historic integrity of the building. Medgar Evers City of Oxford Other localities Medgar Wiley Evers ( / ˈ m ɛ d ɡ ər / ; July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist and soldier who was the NAACP 's first field secretary in Mississippi . Evers,

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2720-620: The Writers Guild of America award for Best Adapted Drama. In 1969, a community pool in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle , Washington, was named after Evers, honoring his life. On June 28, 1992, the city of Jackson, Mississippi, erected a statue in honor of Evers. All of Delta Drive (part of U.S. Highway 49) in Jackson was renamed in his honor. In December 2004, the Jackson City Council changed

2805-531: The 1950s. Following the 1954 ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers challenged the segregation of the state-supported public University of Mississippi. He applied to law school there, as the state had no public law school for African Americans. He also worked for voting rights, economic opportunity, access to public facilities, and other changes in

2890-440: The 1955 lynching of Chicago teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi, and his vocal support of Clyde Kennard , had made Evers a prominent black leader. On May 28, 1963, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the carport of his home. On June 7, 1963, Evers was nearly run down by a car after he came out of the NAACP office in Jackson, Mississippi . Evers lived with the constant threat of death. A large white supremacist population and

2975-564: The 50th anniversary of the assassination of Medgar Evers and recognizing the international leadership role of Myrlie Evers, the Institute's board of directors changed the organization's name to the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute. Evers' brother, Charles Evers , returned to Jackson in July 1963, and served briefly with the NAACP in his brother's place. Charles remained involved in Mississippi civil rights activities for many years, and in 1969,

3060-519: The Evers case. Phil Ochs referred to Evers in the song " Love Me, I'm a Liberal " and wrote the songs "Another Country" and "Too Many Martyrs" (also titled "The Ballad of Medgar Evers") in response to the killing. Malvina Reynolds referenced Evers's murder in her song, "It Isn't Nice". Matthew Jones and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Freedom Singers recorded a version of

3145-825: The Long Civil Rights Movement , Minrose Gwin , then the Kenan Eminent Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and coeditor of The Literature of the American South and the Southern Literary Journal , looked at the body of artistic work inspired by Evers' life and death—fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, and songs from James Baldwin, Margaret Walker, Eudora Welty, Lucille Clifton, Bob Dylan, and Willie Morris, among others. Evers

3230-612: The Masonic Temple on Lynch Street to the Collins Funeral Home on North Farish Street in Jackson. Allen Johnson , Martin Luther King Jr. , and other civil rights leaders led the procession. The Mississippi police came to the non-violent protest armed with riot gear and rifles. While tensions were initially high in the stand-off between police and marchers, both in Jackson and in many similar marches around

3315-579: The Mound Bayou Community Hospital, finally closed in 1983. During the 1990s, the Knights and Daughters of Tabor began a continuing campaign to renovate the original hospital building which has been empty for many years. In 2011, work began to restore the hospital and create a regional medical center. When completed, half of the building will serve as an urgent care facility, which will utilize telemedicine in collaboration with

3400-656: The NAACP in Mississippi. Wilkins never managed a friendly relationship with Evers, and Medgar's widow, Myrlie , also disapproved of Charles' replacing him. A staunch believer in racial integration, he distrusted what he viewed as the militancy and separatism of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party , a black-dominated breakaway of the segregationist Mississippi Democratic Party . In 1965 he launched

3485-530: The RCNL's annual conferences in Mound Bayou , a town founded by freedmen, on such issues as voting rights. His brother Medgar continued to be involved in civil rights, becoming field secretary and head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi. While working in Chicago he sent money to him, not specifying the source. On June 12, 1963, Byron De La Beckwith ,

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3570-652: The Republican Party in the state (and the rest of the South), Cochran was continuously re-elected to his Senate seat. After his failed Senate race, Evers briefly switched political parties and became a Republican . In 1983, Evers ran as an independent for governor of Mississippi but lost to the Democrat Bill Allain . Republican Leon Bramlett of Clarksdale , also known as a college All-American football player, finished second with 39 percent of

3655-400: The U.S. Senate seat vacated by Democrat James Eastland . He finished in third place behind his opponents, Democrat Maurice Dantin and Republican Thad Cochran . He received 24 percent of the vote, likely siphoning off African-American votes that would have otherwise gone to Dantin. Cochran won the election with a plurality of 45 percent of the vote. With the shift in white voters moving into

3740-583: The University of Mississippi in the early 1960s. Evers also encouraged Dr. Gilbert Mason Sr. in his organizing of the Biloxi wade-ins from 1959 to 1963, protests against segregation of the city's public beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast . Evers conducted actions to help integrate Jackson's privately owned buses and tried to integrate the public parks. Evers led voter registration drives and used boycotts to integrate Leake County schools and

3825-751: The Year. Evers popularized the slogan, "Hands that picked cotton can now pick the mayor." The local white community was bitter about his victory, but he became intensively popular among Mississippi's blacks. To celebrate his victory, he hosted an inaugural ball in Natchez , which was widely attended by black Mississippians, reporters from around the country, and prominent national liberals including Ramsey Clark , Ted Sorensen , Whitney Young , Julian Bond , Shirley MacLaine , and Paul O'Dwyer . The white-dominated school board refused to let Evers swear-in on property under their jurisdiction, so he took his oath of office in

3910-462: The advancement of civil rights: Medgar was a man who never wanted adoration, who never wanted to be in the limelight. He was a man who saw a job that needed to be done and he answered the call and the fight for freedom, dignity and justice not just for his people but all people. Evers was identified as a Freedom hero by The My Hero Project . In 2017, the Medgar and Myrlie Evers House was named as

3995-506: The arrival of his campaign caravan. A total of 269 other black candidates were running for office in Mississippi that year, and many of them complained that Evers was self-absorbed and hoarding resources, despite his slim chances of winning. Evers did little to support them. In the general election, Evers faced Democratic nominee Bill Waller and independent segregationist Thomas Pickens Brady . Waller and Evers were personally acquainted with one another, as Waller had prosecuted Beckwith for

4080-555: The behavior of poor blacks in the town, he ordered the police force to enforce a 25-mile per hour speed limit on local roads, banned cursing in public, and cracked down on truancy . He also prohibited the carrying of firearms in town but kept a gun on himself. He quickly responded to concerns from poor blacks while making white businessmen wait outside of his office. Rhetorically, he would vacillate between messages of racial conciliation and statements of hostility. Fayette's white population remained bitter about Evers' victory. Many avoided

4165-451: The candidate had a record of supporting the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Evers befriended a range of people from sharecroppers to presidents. He was an informal adviser to politicians as diverse as Lyndon B. Johnson , George C. Wallace , Ronald Reagan and Robert F. Kennedy . Evers severely criticized such national leaders as Roy Wilkins , Stokely Carmichael , H. Rap Brown and Louis Farrakhan over various issues. Evers

4250-470: The city hall where they used to socialize and The Fayette Chronicle regularly criticized him. He argued with the county board of supervisors over his plan to erect busts of his brother, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Kennedys on the courthouse square. He told the press, "They're cooperating because they haven't blown my head off. This is Mississippi." In September 1969, a Klansman drove into Fayette with

4335-408: The commemoration in his honor. Evers was the subject of the students' research project. In October 2009, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus , a former Mississippi governor , announced that USNS  Medgar Evers  (T-AKE-13) , a Lewis and Clark -class dry cargo ship , would be named in the activist's honor. The ship was christened by Myrlie Evers-Williams on November 12, 2011. In June 2013,

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4420-451: The courtroom. In 1994, De La Beckwith was prosecuted by the state based on new evidence. Bobby DeLaughter was the prosecutor. During the trial, the body of Evers was exhumed for an autopsy. His body was embalmed, and was in such good condition that his son was allowed to view his father's remains for the first time in 30 years. De La Beckwith was convicted of murder on February 5, 1994 and sentenced to life in prison, after having lived as

4505-602: The day and as an attendant for the men's restroom at the Conrad Hilton Hotel at nights. He also began pimping and ran a numbers game , taking $ 500 a week from the latter. He gained enough money to purchase several bars, bootlegged liquor, and sold jukeboxes. In Mississippi about 1951, brothers Charles and Medgar Evers grew interested in African freedom movements. They were interested in Jomo Kenyatta and

4590-502: The frontlines. During his time in the Army, Evers was angered by the segregation and mistreatment endured by African-American troops. Witnessing Black soldiers of the Free French Forces being treated as the equals of white troops, he once told Charles that "When we get out of the Army, we’re going to straighten this thing out!" In 1946, Evers was discharged from the Army at the rank of technician fifth grade , having earned

4675-475: The hands of Waller supporters in Jackson and then went to a local television station where his opponent was delivering a victory speech. Learning that Evers had arrived, Waller's nervous aides hurried the governor-elect to his car. Evers approached the car shortly before its departure and told Waller, "I just wanted to congratulate you." Waller replied, "Whaddya say, Charlie?" and his wife leaned over and shook Evers' hand. In 1978, Evers ran as an independent for

4760-408: The judge in the municipal court, he personally issued fines for infractions such as cursing in public. He regularly ignored the input of the town board of aldermen, and town employee Charles Ramberg reported that he said he would fire municipal workers who would not vote for him. During Evers' tenure, Fayette benefitted from several federal grants, and ITT Inc. built an assembly plant in the town, but

4845-430: The late 1960s. Prosecutors further accused him of depositing town funds in a personal bank account. His attorney told the court that Evers had indeed concealed the income, but argued that the charge was invalid since this had been done before the late 1960s, as the indictment specified. The case resulted in a mistrial , but Evers' reputation permanently suffered. In the late 1970s he used a $ 5,300 federal grant to renovate

4930-472: The latter song. Wadada Leo Smith 's album Ten Freedom Summers contains a track called "Medgar Evers: A Love-Voice of a Thousand Years' Journey for Liberty and Justice". Jackson C. Frank 's self-titled debut album , released in 1965, also includes a reference to Medgar Evers in the song "Don't Look Back". Eudora Welty 's short story, "Where Is the Voice Coming From?", in which the speaker

5015-402: The murder of Medgar. Despite the fears of public observers, the campaign was largely devoid of overt racist appeals and Evers and Waller avoided negative tactics. Though about 40 percent of the Mississippi electorate in 1971 was black, Evers only secured about 22 percent of the total vote; Waller won with 601,222 votes to Evers' 172,762 and Brady's 6,653. The night of the election, Evers shook

5100-577: The murder of her son, Emmett Till ( Jalyn Hall ). A 2021 episode of Extra History from Extra Credits talks about Evers, his activism, and assassination. Charles Evers James Charles Evers (September 11, 1922 – July 22, 2020) was an American civil rights activist, businessman, radio personality, and politician. Evers was known for his role in the civil rights movement along with his younger brother Medgar Evers . After serving in World War II, Evers began his career as

5185-488: The name of the city's airport to Jackson–Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in Evers' honor. Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers, became a noted activist in her own right, eventually serving as national chairperson of the NAACP. Myrlie also founded the Medgar Evers Institute in 1998, with the initial goal of preserving and advancing the legacy of her husband's life's work. Anticipating the commemoration of

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5270-478: The nomination, moderate whites would be more inclined to vote for himself in the general election. He campaigned on a platform of reduced taxes—particularly for lower property taxes on the elderly, improved healthcare, and legalizing gambling along the Gulf Coast . Low on money, his candidacy was largely funded by the sale of campaign buttons and copies of his recently published autobiography. His campaign staff

5355-542: The potential of the black majority and achieve political influence in Jefferson and two adjacent counties. He explained, "My feeling is that Negroes gotta control somewhere in America, and we've dropped anchor in these counties. We are going to control these three counties in the next ten years. There is no question about it." With his voter registration drives having made Fayette's number of black registered voters double

5440-404: The primaries and won back the office of mayor. In 1989, Evers lost the nomination once again to political rival Kennie Middleton. In his response to the defeat, Evers accepted, said he was tired, and that: "Twenty years is enough. I'm tired of being out front. Let someone else be out front." Evers began mulling the possibility of a campaign for the office of governor in 1969. He decided to enter

5525-488: The region's economy largely remained depressed. By 1981, Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate in the state. Whites' perception that Evers was venal and self-interested persisted and began to spread among the black community. This problem ballooned when in 1974 the Internal Revenue Service arranged for him to be indicted for tax evasion by failing to report $ 156,000 in income he garnered in

5610-576: The rise of the Kikuyu tribal resistance to colonialism in Kenya , known as the Mau Mau uprising as it moved to open violence. Along with his brother, Charles became active in the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), a civil rights organization that promoted self-help and business ownership. He also helped his brother with black voter registration drives. Between 1952 and 1955, Evers often spoke at

5695-472: The segregated society. In 1963 Evers was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal . Evers was murdered in 1963 at his home in Jackson, Mississippi , now the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument , by Byron De La Beckwith , a member of the White Citizens' Council in Jackson. This group was formed in 1954 in Mississippi to resist the integration of schools and civil rights activism. As

5780-553: The size of the white electorate, Evers helped elect a black man to the local school board in 1966. He also established the Medgar Evers Community Center at the outskirts of town, which served as a center for registration efforts, grocery store, restaurant, and dance hall. By early 1968 he had established a network of local NAACP branches in the region. The president of each branch served as Evers' deputies, and he attended all of their meetings. That year he made

5865-609: The state, leaders of the movement maintained non-violence among their followers. On June 21, 1963, Byron De La Beckwith , a fertilizer salesman and member of the Citizens' Council (and later of the Ku Klux Klan), was arrested for Evers' murder. District Attorney and future governor Bill Waller prosecuted De La Beckwith. All-white juries in February and April 1964 deadlocked on De La Beckwith's guilt and failed to reach

5950-429: The third of five children (including elder brother Charles Evers ) of Jesse (Wright) and James Evers. The family included Jesse's two children from a previous marriage. The Evers family owned a small farm and James also worked at a sawmill. Evers and his siblings walked 12 miles (19 kilometers) a day to attend racially segregated schools; eventually Medgar earned his high school diploma. In 1943, Evers enlisted in

6035-419: The use of the stations' restrooms. He and his brother, Charles, attended the RCNL's annual conferences in Mound Bayou between 1952 and 1954, which drew crowds of 10,000 or more. In 1954, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers applied to the state-supported University of Mississippi Law School to challenge that practice in the state. His application

6120-484: The vote. Evers endorsed Ronald Reagan for President of the United States during the 1980 United States presidential election . Evers later attracted controversy for his support of judicial nominee Charles W. Pickering , a Republican, who was nominated by President George H. W. Bush for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Evers criticized the NAACP and other organizations for opposing Pickering, as he said

6205-594: Was African-American and almost 25% white; the white officers on the Fayette city police "resigned rather than work under a black administration," according to the Associated Press . Evers told reporters "I guess we will just have to operate with an all-black police department for the present. But I am still looking for some whites to join us in helping Fayette grow." Evers then outlawed the carrying of firearms within city limits. He ran for governor in 1971 and

6290-547: Was a member of the Republican Party for 30 years when he spoke warmly of the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States. During the 2016 presidential election , Evers supported Donald Trump 's presidential campaign . Evers wrote two autobiographies or memoirs: Evers (1971), written with Grace Halsell and self-published; and Have No Fear, written with Andrew Szanton and published by John Wiley & Sons (1997). Evers

6375-503: Was admitted; Evers died in the hospital 50 minutes later, three weeks before his 38th birthday. Evers was the first black man to be admitted to an all-white hospital in Mississippi. Mourned nationally, Evers was buried on June 19 in Arlington National Cemetery , where he received full military honors before a crowd of more than 3,000 people. After Evers was assassinated, an estimated 5,000 people marched from

6460-507: Was largely young and inexperienced and lacked organization. Evers' rallies drew large crowds of blacks. The Clarion-Ledger , a leading Mississippian conservative newspaper, largely ignored his campaign. To gain attention, he unexpectedly gatecrashed the annual Fisherman's Rodeo in Pascagoula and stopped and spoke to people on the streets of Jackson during their morning commute. Police departments in rural towns were often horrified by

6545-598: Was named "Man of the Year" by the NAACP. On June 3, 1969, Evers was elected in Fayette, Mississippi , as the first African-American mayor of a biracial town in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era , following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enforced constitutional rights for citizens. At the time of Evers's election as mayor, the town of Fayette had a population of 1,600 of which 75%

6630-641: Was portrayed by Howard Rollins in the 1983 television film For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story . The 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi , directed by Rob Reiner , explores the 1994 trial of De La Beckwith in which prosecutor DeLaughter of the Hinds County District Attorney's office secured a conviction in state court. Beckwith and DeLaughter were played by James Woods and Alec Baldwin , respectively, with Whoopi Goldberg as Myrlie Evers. Medgar

6715-414: Was portrayed by James Pickens Jr. The film was based on a book of the same name. In the documentary film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), Evers is one of three Black activists (the other two are Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X ) who are the focus of reminiscences by author James Baldwin , who recounts the circumstances of and his reaction to Evers' assassination. In the 2011 film The Help ,

6800-711: Was posthumously awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP. In 1969, Medgar Evers College was established in Brooklyn, New York , as part of the City University of New York . Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers, co-wrote the 1967 book For Us, the Living with William Peters. In 1983, a television movie was made based on the book. Celebrating Evers's life and career, it starred Howard Rollins Jr. and Irene Cara as Medgar and Myrlie Evers, airing on PBS . The film won

6885-713: Was present, for reasons unspecified by the FBI or local police. There has been speculation that many members of the police force at the time were members of the Klan. In the early morning of Wednesday, June 12, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy 's nationally televised Civil Rights Address , Evers pulled into his driveway after returning from a meeting with NAACP lawyers. His family had worried for his safety that day, and Evers himself had warned his wife that he felt in greater danger than usual. Emerging from his car and carrying NAACP T-shirts that read " Jim Crow Must Go", Evers

6970-408: Was rejected due to his race, as the flagship school had long been segregated. Evers submitted his application as part of a test case by the NAACP . On November 24, 1954, Evers was named as the NAACP's first field secretary for Mississippi. In this position, he helped organize boycotts and set up new local chapters of the NAACP. Evers was also involved with James Meredith 's efforts to enroll in

7055-463: Was struck in the back with a bullet fired from an Eddystone Enfield 1917 rifle ; the bullet passed through his heart. Initially thrown to the ground by the impact of the shot, Evers rose and staggered 30 feet (10 meters) before collapsing outside his front door. His wife, Myrlie, was the first to find him. Evers was taken to the local hospital in Jackson, where he was initially refused entry because of his race. Evers' family explained who he was, and he

7140-594: Was the first African-American mayor elected in the state. He died on July 22, 2020, at the age of 97, in nearby Brandon . On the 40th anniversary of Evers' assassination, hundreds of civil rights veterans, government officials, and students from across the country gathered around his grave site at Arlington National Cemetery to celebrate his life and legacy. Barry Bradford and three students—Sharmistha Dev, Jajah Wu, and Debra Siegel, formerly of Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois —planned and hosted

7225-510: Was with Kennedy in Los Angeles when he was assassinated . In May 1969, Evers ran for the office of Mayor of Fayette and defeated white incumbent R. J. Allen, 386 votes to 255. This made him the first black mayor of a biracial Mississippi town (unlike the all-black Mound Bayou ) since Reconstruction . Evers' election as mayor had great symbolic significance statewide and attracted national attention. The NAACP named Evers their 1969 Man of

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