42 Facts About Medgar Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers was an American civil rights activist and soldier who was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi.

Medgar Evers applied to law school there, as the state had no public law school for African Americans.

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

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.

Medgar Wiley Evers was born on July 2,1925, in Decatur, Mississippi, the third of five children of Jesse and James 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 racially segregated schools; eventually Medgar earned his high school diploma.

In 1943, Medgar Evers enlisted in 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.

Medgar 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, Medgar Evers' unit was part of the Red Ball Express, which delivered supplies to Allied troops fighting on the frontlines.

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

In 1954, following the US Supreme Court ruling that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Medgar Evers applied to the state-supported University of Mississippi Law School to challenge that practice in the state.

Medgar Evers's application was rejected due to his race, as the flagship school had long been segregated.

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 a 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, and 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' family explained who he was, and he was admitted; Medgar Evers died in the hospital 50 minutes later, three weeks before his 38th birthday.

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's 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.

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 Evers died on July 22,2020, at the age of 97, in nearby Brandon.

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

In 2024, Medgar Evers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.

In 2025, as part of a series of anti-DEI deletions by the US Department of Defense, a profile of Medgar Evers was deleted from the Arlington cemetery website.

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.