Jack's+Civil+Rights+Project

=Medgar Evers=

Profile Information

 * Name:** Medgar Wiley Evers
 * Hometown:** Decatur, Mississippi, USA
 * Date of Birth:** July 2, 1925
 * Job Name/Title/Employ:** Fought in World War II, was an insurance agent, worked for NAACP, and was a civil rights leader.
 * Education:** Attended Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Friends

 * Myrlie Evers- Williams**
 * James Baldwin**


 * James Meredeth**
 * Emmet Till**
 * James Charles Evers**

About Me
My name is Medgar Wiley Evers. I was born of the parents Jessie and James Evers on July 2, 1925. I grew up in Mississippi. I grew up a farmer, and enlisted in the army in 1943. I fought in Germany and France before going to college at present- day Alcorn State University. I married Myrlie Beasley, who also went to Alcorn. We moved to Philadelphia and had 3 kids. They were named Darrell Kenyatta, James Van, and Reena Denise. I worked as an insurance salesman, and Myrlie was a secretary at the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. We settled quite nicely there.

In 1954, I quit my job at the insurance agency and applied for the University of Mississippi Law School. I was denied access. I then was the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school. I moved to Jackson, Mississippi that same year. I became the first field secretary of the NAACP in Mississippi. I did a lot as secretary, like recruiting Mississippi members and organized boycotts of white-owned companies. I also organized voter- demonstration efforts in Mississippi.

My family and I were threatened all through my civil rights carreer. Our house was even bombed by a molotov cocktail in May of 1963. Less than a month later on June 12, 1963, I attended a civil rights workers meeting in Jackson, Mississippi. My wife and kids were home watching John F. Kennedy giving a speech about civil rights on TV. I drove home and parked my car in the driveway. As I got out, a shot rang out. I was hit in the back. Byron de la Beckwith did it. I died about an hour after I was shot. Beckwith was part of the Ku Klux Klan. 11 days later, he was arrested for the crime. Though a lot of controversy about Beckwith's sentence, after about 30 years he was admitted to life in jail. At age 80 he died. My wife Marlie remarried and is a member of the board executive committee at NAACP.

Wall Posts

 * **1945- I was honorably discharged from the U.S. military:** I enlisted in the United States army in 1943. I fought in both France and Germany during World War II. After about two years serving, i was honorably discharged from the military. This means a service member got a rating from good to excellent, and did enough time during their term of service. This helped me in my civil rights work later in life.
 * **December 24, 1951- I married my wife:** My beautiful wife Myrlie Evers- Williams, who was born Myrlie Beasley, was born on March 17, 1933. We went to college together at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. We fell in love while going there and married on December 24, 1951. I graduated in 1952, while Myrlie did a few years later. We went on to have 3 children.
 * **August 28, 1955 - Emmet Till was killed:** I investigated several crimes perpetrated against African Americans. One of the most horrifying cases was the one of Emmit Till, a 14 year old boy who was killed by whites. He was done working on a hot day, so some of his friends and he went to a grocery store to buy some drinks and gum. He was thought to have flirted with the cashier, Carolyn Bryant, as he left. Carolyn's husband and brother in law beat him and shot him head. His face was said "mutilated" by the beating. He was thrown in a river, and was found a few days later. I investigated this crime with my wife. This crime was such a big deal because he was such a young child when it happened.
 * **May 28, 1963- My house was bombed:** As one of the head civil rights leaders in Mississippi during my life, I had a lot of threats to my family and me. I was almost run over by a car at one point. About one and a half weeks before that, my house was fire bombed with a molotov cocktail, which is sort of a type of bomb, but cheaper, for people who couldn't afford hand grenades. A white activist from the KKK threw it into my house, burning a lot of it down, on May 28, 1963.

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