1. James Charles Evers was an American civil rights activist, businessman, radio personality, and politician.
49 Facts About Charles Evers
1. 2.
In 1969, Charles Evers was named "Man of the Year" by the NAACP.
3.
On June 3,1969, Charles 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.
4.
Charles Evers ran for governor in 1971 and the United States Senate in 1978, both times as an independent candidate.
5.
In 1989, Charles Evers was defeated for re-election after serving sixteen years as mayor.
6.
Charles Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi, on September 11,1922, to James Evers, a laborer, and Jesse Wright Evers, a maid.
7.
Charles Evers was the eldest of four children; Medgar Evers was his younger brother.
8.
Charles Evers attended segregated public schools, which were typically underfunded in Mississippi following the exclusion of African Americans from the political system by disenfranchisement after 1890.
9.
Charles Evers fell in love with a Philippine woman while stationed overseas.
10.
Charles Evers had a cafe in Philadelphia and influenced over two hundred black citizens to pay their poll tax.
11.
Charles Evers began pimping and ran a numbers game, taking $500 a week from the latter.
12.
Charles Evers gained enough money to purchase several bars, bootlegged liquor, and sold jukeboxes.
13.
Charles Evers helped his brother with black voter registration drives.
14.
Between 1952 and 1955, Charles Evers often spoke at the RCNL's annual conferences in Mound Bayou, a town founded by freedmen, on such issues as voting rights.
15.
Charles Evers learned of his brother's death several hours later and flew to Jackson the following morning.
16.
Charles Evers decided to relocate to Mississippi to carry on his brother's work.
17.
Charles Evers coordinated his efforts from the small town of Fayette in Jefferson County.
18.
Charles Evers moved the NAACP's Mississippi field office from Jackson to Fayette to take advantage of the potential of the black majority and achieve political influence in Jefferson and two adjacent counties.
19.
Charles Evers 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.
20.
Charles Evers supported Robert F Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, serving as co-director of his Mississippi campaign organization, and was with Kennedy in Los Angeles when he was assassinated.
21.
In May 1969, Evers ran for the office of Mayor of Fayette and defeated white incumbent R J Allen, 386 votes to 255.
22.
Charles Evers appointed a black police force and several black staff members.
23.
Charles Evers benefitted from an influx of young, white liberal volunteers who wanted to assist a civil rights leader.
24.
Charles Evers sought to make Fayette an upstanding community and a symbolic refuge for black people.
25.
Charles Evers prohibited the carrying of firearms in town but kept a gun on himself.
26.
Charles Evers quickly responded to concerns from poor blacks while making white businessmen wait outside of his office.
27.
Charles Evers argued with the county board of supervisors over his plan to erect busts of his brother, Martin Luther King Jr.
28.
Charles Evers 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.
29.
Whites' perception that Charles Evers was venal and self-interested persisted and began to spread among the black community.
30.
Charles Evers's 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.
31.
Charles Evers lost the Democratic primary for mayor in 1981 to Kennie Middleton.
32.
In 1989, Charles Evers lost the nomination to political rival Kennie Middleton.
33.
Charles Evers began mulling the possibility of a campaign for the office of governor in 1969.
34.
Charles Evers decided to enter the 1971 gubernatorial election as an independent, kicking off his campaign with a rally in Decatur.
35.
Waller and Charles Evers were personally acquainted with one another, as Waller had prosecuted Beckwith for the murder of Medgar.
36.
The night of the election, Charles Evers shook the hands of Waller supporters in Jackson and then went to a local television station where his opponent was delivering a victory speech.
37.
In 1978, Charles Evers ran as an independent for the US Senate seat vacated by Democrat James Eastland.
38.
Charles Evers finished in third place behind his opponents, Democrat Maurice Dantin and Republican Thad Cochran.
39.
Charles Evers received 24 percent of the vote, likely siphoning off African-American votes that would have otherwise gone to Dantin.
40.
In 1983, Charles Evers ran as an independent for governor of Mississippi but lost to the Democrat Bill Allain.
41.
Charles Evers endorsed Ronald Reagan for President of the United States during the 1980 United States presidential election.
42.
Charles Evers criticized the NAACP and other organizations for opposing Pickering, as he said the candidate had a record of supporting the civil rights movement in Mississippi.
43.
Charles Evers befriended a range of people from sharecroppers to presidents.
44.
Charles Evers was an informal adviser to politicians as diverse as Lyndon B Johnson, George C Wallace, Ronald Reagan and Robert F Kennedy.
45.
Charles Evers 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.
46.
Charles Evers was briefly married to Christine Charles Evers until their marriage ended in annulment.
47.
In 1951, Evers married Nannie L Magee, with whom he had four daughters.
48.
Charles Evers lived in Brandon, Mississippi, and served as station manager of WMPR 90.1 FM in Jackson.
49.
Charles Evers was portrayed by Bill Cobbs in the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi.