Medgar Evers Blog

Medgar Evers

For our class' fourth EOTO and trial, my EOTO presentation was about the assassination of Medgar Evers. Writing about Medgar Evers was a treat compared to my last major blog post. There was a plentiful amount of information to work with, and he has been one of the few things I was entirely unfamiliar with in this course.

Medgar Evers was born on July 2nd, 1925, in the small town of Decatur, Mississippi. His family owned a small farm, and his father also worked at a sawmill. From 1943 to 1945, Evers fought in the European Theatre of WWII in the United States Army; impressively, he fought at the Battle of Normandy (commonly known as D-Day).

Evers in uniform

While in France, Evers and other black soldiers were faced with a tough decision: return to the United States, or desert and start a new life in France. French society had already begun to treat minorities as equals unlike the United States, so many black soldiers decided to stay.

Evers is quoted as saying to his brother, "When we get out of the Army, we’re going to straighten this thing out!" After the war, Evers returned to Mississippi, graduated from college, and started a family in 1951. In 1952, Evers would join the NAACP.

Evers' natural abilities of organization and leadership were invaluable to the NAACP. Between 1952 and 1954, he organized multiple NAACP chapters while on work trips throughout the state. His skills and contributions, along with participating in a test case against segregation practice at the University of Mississippi law school after the Brown v. Board ruling, lead to him becoming the first NAACP Field Secretary of Mississippi.

As the Field Secretary, Evers functioned as the NAACP "governor" of Mississippi, overseeing operations throughout the whole state. Early on, Evers' primary focus was running boycotts against segregated services, specifically gas stations. Evers organized and lead multiple boycotts against segregated gas stations with varying degrees of success.

Any area where Evers succeeded especially was garnering press coverage of the NAACP's efforts. A prime example of this was when protests against segregation broke out in Jackson, Mississippi in early 1963. The mayor issued a statement calling for the cessation of the protests over the local TV station, and Evers took his chance to strike.

Evers successfully appealed to the FCC under the "equal time" provision and was granted 17 minutes to speak freely over the station in support of the civil rights movement. This was the first time ever that someone had been able to speak of the subject on Mississippi television. The broadcast was seen by thousands of Mississippians, both black and white, inspiring or angering many.

Evers' historic broadcast

Along with helping assemble the legal team to gain James Meredith's admittance to the University of the Mississippi, Evers' success lead to him becoming a target for white supremacists. A few weeks before he was assassinated, his house's garage was firebombed. Then, on June 12th, 1963, Evers was shot in the back on the steps of his own home, less than 24 hours after President Kennedy called white resistance to civil rights a "moral crisis" in a national address.

Byron de la Beckwith

The murderer, Byron de la Beckwith, was found quickly. However, despite overwhelming evidence, the jury was split twice in a row. Both juries were made up of only white males. It wouldn't be until 1994 that Beckwith would be tried for the 3rd time, and thanks to a jury that wasn't dominated by whites, Beckwith was finally sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

Medgar Evers is not someone who is often talked about in history. He was one of the many men who worked tirelessly towards the goal of equality in America. Similarly to Evers, these many men are often forgotten or overlooked, and it is important that we do not let their legacies be forgotten.