39 Facts About Medgar Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers was an American civil rights activist and the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi, who was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith.

Medgar Evers worked for voting rights, economic opportunity, access to public facilities, and other changes in the segregated society.

Medgar Evers was born on July 2,1925, in Decatur, Mississippi, the third of five children of Jesse and James Medgar Evers.

The Medgar Evers family owned a small farm and James worked at a sawmill.

Evers and his siblings walked 12 miles a day to attend segregated schools; eventually Medgar earned his high school diploma.

Medgar Evers served in the United States Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945.

Medgar Evers was sent to the European Theater where he participated in the Normandy landings in June 1944.

In 1948, Medgar Evers enrolled at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, majoring in business administration.

Medgar Evers competed on the debate, football, and track teams, sang in the choir, and was junior class president.

The couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a town developed by African Americans, where Evers became a salesman for T R M Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Medgar Evers was president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, which began to organize actions for civil rights; Medgar Evers helped organize the RCNL's boycott of gasoline stations that denied blacks the use of the stations' restrooms.

In 1954, following the US Supreme Court decision that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Medgar Evers applied to the state-supported University of Mississippi Law School, but his application was rejected because of his race.

Medgar Evers submitted his application as part of a test case by the NAACP.

On November 24,1954, Medgar Evers was named as the NAACP's first field secretary for Mississippi.

Medgar Evers was involved with James Meredith's efforts to enroll in the University of Mississippi in the early 1960s.

Medgar Evers conducted actions to help integrate Jackson's privately owned buses and tried to integrate the public parks.

Medgar Evers led voter registration drives, and used boycotts to integrate Leake County schools and the Mississippi State Fair.

On June 7,1963, Medgar Evers was nearly run down by a car after he came out of the NAACP office in Jackson, Mississippi.

Medgar Evers, who was regularly followed home by at least two FBI cars and one police car, arrived at his home on the morning of his death without an escort.

Medgar Evers's family had worried for his safety that day; Medgar Evers himself had warned his wife that he felt in greater danger than usual.

Medgar Evers was taken to the local hospital in Jackson, where he was initially refused entry because of his race.

Medgar Evers's family explained who he was and he was admitted; he died in the hospital 50 minutes later.

Medgar Evers was the first black man to be admitted to an all-white hospital in Mississippi.

Myrlie Medgar Evers did not give up the fight for the conviction of her husband's killer.

Medgar Evers waited until a new judge had been assigned in the county to take her case against De La Beckwith back into the courtroom.

Medgar Evers died at the age of 80 in prison on January 21,2001.

Medgar Evers was memorialized by leading Mississippi and national authors James Baldwin, Margaret Walker, Eudora Welty, and Anne Moody.

In 1963, Medgar Evers 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.

In 1969, a community pool in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, was named after Medgar Evers, honoring his life.

Medgar's brother Charles Evers returned to Jackson in July 1963, and served briefly with the NAACP in his slain brother's place.

Medgar Evers remained involved in Mississippi civil rights activities for many years, and in 1969, was the first African-American mayor elected in the state.

In June 2013, a statue of Medgar Evers was erected at his alma mater, Alcorn State University, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death.

Medgar Evers was honored in a tribute at Arlington National Cemetery on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Medgar Evers was a man who never wanted adoration, who never wanted to be in the limelight.

Medgar Evers 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.

Medgar Evers was identified as a Freedom hero by The My Hero Project.

Medgar Evers added to this account in a book, Never Too Late: A Prosecutor's Story of Justice in the Medgar Evers Case.

The 2022 film Till depicts Medgar Evers assisting Mamie Till-Bradley seek justice for the murder of her son, Emmett Till.