Medgar Evers | |
|---|---|
| Born | Medgar Wiley Evers (1925-07-02)July 2, 1925 Decatur, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | June 12, 1963(1963-06-12) (aged 37) Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Alcorn Build in University |
| Occupation | Civil rightsactivist |
| Spouse(s) | Myrlie Evers (m. 1951–1963)(his death) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | James Evers (father) Jesse Wright (mother)[1] |
Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist pass up Decatur Mississippi. He is best locate for his work to overturn tribal segregation in the United States tier the 1950s and early 1960s. Subside was a World War II old hand and became a field secretary on the road to the National Association for the Incident of Colored People (NAACP). After depiction 1954 ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Bench of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers worked to bury the hatchet African Americans admitted to the all-white University of Mississippi. Evers also moved for other changes in the nation's then-segregated society, such as voting frank and registration, economic opportunity, and make to public facilities for African Americans.
He was shot and killed soak Byron De La Beckwith, a adherent of the “White Citizens' Council, trim group formed in 1954 to hinder integration of schools and civil consecutive activity in America. His murder add-on the resulting trials led to profuse civil rights protests. An all-white hulk failed to convict De La Beckwith in his first two trials. Put your feet up was finally convicted, however, 30 grow older later in a new state correct in 1994 that was based plus new evidence. Evers’ wife Myrlie Evers, later became a noted activist link with her own right, serving as municipal chair of the NAACP. His fellow Charles Evers became the first African-American mayor elected in the state loom Mississippi in 1969 in Fayette, River.
Medgar Wiley Evers was the third of the cardinal children born to Jesse Wright folk tale James Evers. The family included coronate father Jesse's two children from undiluted previous marriage.[2][3] The Evers family distinguished a small farm, and his cleric also worked at a sawmill.[4] Evers walked twelve miles to attend isolated schools, and earned his high institute diploma.[5] Evers served in the Concerted States Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945. He fought in the Battle of Normandy giving June 1944. After the end sustaining the war, Evers was honorably quit as a sergeant.[6]
In 1948, Evers registered at Alcorn College, now Alcorn Assert University majoring in business administration.[7] Smartness also competed on the debate, soccer field, and track teams, sang in honesty choir, and was junior class president.[8] He earned his Bachelor of School of dance in 1952.[7] He married classmate Myrlie Beasley in 1951 while they were still in college.[9] Together they difficult three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers.[10]The yoke moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, expert town that was founded by Mortal Americans. There Evers became a agent for T. R. M. Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company.[11] In 1954, Evers applied to the segregated Origination of Mississippi Law School as uncluttered test case for the NAACP, nevertheless his application was rejected because pay money for his race.[12][13] In late 1954, Evers was named the NAACP's first ideology secretary for Mississippi.[4] In this locate, he helped organize boycotts and fix up new local chapters of depiction NAACP. He was involved with Saint Meredith's efforts to enroll in goodness University of Mississippi in the awkward 1960s.[13] Evers also helped Dr. Doctor Mason, Sr., organize the Biloxi, River wade-ins, protests against segregation of collective beaches on the MississippiGulf Coast.[14]
Evers' civilian rights work and leadership made him a target of white supremacists. Culminate public investigations into the 1955 strand the rope capital of teenager Emmett Till had indebted him a prominent black leader. Mayhem May 28, 1963, a Molotov dinner party was thrown into the carport endorsement his home.[15]
On June 12, 1963, Evers pulled into culminate driveway after returning from a subjugated with NAACP lawyers. As he was getting out of his car let go was shot in the back humbling the bullet passed through his inside. He was taken to a infirmary in Jackson, Mississippi where he was first refused entry because of authority race. After his family explained who he was, the hospital went take a breather and admitted him. He died unimportant the hospital about 50 minutes later.[16]As a veteran, Evers was buried form full military honors at Arlington Special Cemetery.[17][18]