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Civil Rights Movement

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

The 1960s in America

Medgar Evers

by Sharon Randolph

One of the nation’s most prominent, active, and nonviolent civil rights leaders. Evers’s murder in 1963 hastened passage of civil rights legislation.

Early Life

A native of Mississippi who served in the United States Army from 1943 until the end of World War II, Medgar Wylie Evers participated in the invasion of Normandy. Upon returning to Mississippi, he attended Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Lorman, but because of segregation, he was not permitted to enroll in law school at the University of Mississippi. In 1951, he married Myrlie Beasley; the couple subsequently had three children. As an adolescent, Evers saw the lynching of one of his father’s friends for insulting a white woman. This event inspired his stand against racism and motivated him to work for civil rights.

The 1960’s

Medgar Evers.

ph_0111205419-Evers_M.jpg

(Library of Congress)

Throughout the 1950’s and in the early 1960’s, Evers was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, working primarily to organize new chapters in his home state. On several occasions, he also investigated murders of local blacks at once attempting to help provide justice and to lessen the incidence of racially motivated killings. Although he relentlessly practiced nonviolence, he found himself in confrontations with governments and the white citizenry. In 1960, he was fined and jailed for criticizing a legal court decision. In 1961, he was beaten for applauding a defendant in court. In 1963, he helped James H. Meredith register at the University of Mississippi.

Beginning in 1962, Evers became more centrally involved in the Civil Rights movement in Jackson, where he urged the hiring of black police officers and the creation of an interracial commission to improve race relations. An effective and efficient organizer, Evers advocated the use of economic boycotts and led voter registration drives. More specifically, he helped integrate the Mississippi State Fair, Leake County schools, and the city’s privately owned bus company.

For years, Evers and his family had received death threats his house had previously been attacked and firebombed. On June 12, he was shot in front of his home as he stepped from his car. He died later that night and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Shortly thereafter, Byron de la Beckwith, whose fingerprint was on the weapon dropped by the gunman, was arrested for the murder. He was released from jail in 1964, however, after two mistrials by all-white juries.

Impact

By far the most visible and effective civil rights leader in Mississippi for years before his death, Evers helped bring about important changes that eventually desegregated buses, schools, businesses, and society itself. In death, the injustice of the nation’s inability to convict Evers’s killer kept alive and furthered the necessity for the changes for which he worked. The mistrials remained a focal point of national attention, as well as proof for all that the system of segregation was evil and corrupt.

Subsequent Events

In 1990, Beckwith was arrested and tried a third time for the murder; still asserting his innocence, he was convicted in 1994.

Additional Information

In 1967, Myrlie Evers published a memoir detailing the events in the life and family of Medgar Evers, entitled For Us, the Living.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Randolph, Sharon. "Medgar Evers." The 1960s in America, edited by Carl Singleton, Salem Press, 1999. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1960_4030016411.
APA 7th
Randolph, S. (1999). Medgar Evers. In C. Singleton (Ed.), The 1960s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Randolph, Sharon. "Medgar Evers." Edited by Carl Singleton. The 1960s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 1999. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.