Medgar Evers
One of Mississippi’s Greatest Leaders
As a Child
Medgar Evers was born on July 2,
1925. He was from Decatur,
Mississippi.
He grew up in a farming family.
He lived in the country.
Education
He graduated from college in 1952. He had to
attend a segregated (blacks only) school.
Work
• He was a insurance salesman, but when he saw
someone almost get lynched, he started working for
the Regional Council of Negro Leadership. This was his
first work with the RCNL and as a civil rights organizer.
This would start his career in helping with the Civil
Rights Movement.
• He led the boycott against gas stations that refused to
let blacks use their restrooms.
• His older brother, Charles Evers also worked with
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, so fighting racism was in his family.
Wartime Service
He had to serve in the Army in 1943. Evers found segregation on the national level. Racism
wasn’t just in Mississippi or other Southern states. This experience with segregation in the Army
made him more aware of the civil rights struggle and made him want to do something.
Evers fought in both France and Germany during World War II, and received an honorable
discharge in 1946.
Even though he was fighting for freedom, he was not treated as a free person. World War II was
about fighting against hate and racism, yet Evers lived with hate and racism in his hometown.
Advocate
Evers tried to go to the University of Mississippi Law School but was denied. He helped
James Meredith gain admittance to ‘‘Ole Miss’’ by putting him in contact with NAACP
lawyers.
In December 1954, he became the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi. He
received many threatening phone calls and harassment.
Evers helped publicize injustice and the crime of lynching of Emmett Till in Leflore County,
Mississippi. They helped gather witnesses and helped witnesses flee the state after
testifying so they would not get killed.
Evers tried to help blacks get treated equally. Evers helped blacks in Jackson to begin
mass demonstrations and rallies in early 1960s. They were protesting Jackson Mayor
Alan Thompson because he did not allow a biracial committee to look into Jackson’s racial
problems.
Husband and Father
• Wife: Myrlie EversWilliams
• Children: Reena
Denise Evers, James
Van Evers, Darrell
Kenyatta Evers
Enemy
Byron de la Beckwith was a racist. He hated
what blacks were doing, especially black
people who were leaders. He hated Medgar
Evers. This was strange because Byron de la
Beckwith and Medgar Evers both served in the
US miltary in Europe and helped fight against
racism.
Despite both being military veterans, Beckwith
hated Medgar Evers and assassinated him.
Many people lied in court to protect Beckwith
and he was not found guilty of the crime until
the late 1990s.
Fateful Night
• When Medgar Evers returned home, a sniper shot and
killed him as he was walking into his house.
• He did not want to die for helping equality, but he was
willing to die. He was a martyr for the Civil Rights.
His Death
• Because he was shot by a sniper, it helped the
nation see how bad life was in the deep South
for black people.
References
• http://www.biography.com/people/medgarevers-9542324
• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medgar
_evers.htm
• http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/e
ncyclopedia/enc_evers_medgar_1925_1963/
• http://geoffrey_pope.tripod.com/lifeanddeath
ofmedgarevers/id1.html