MEDGAR EVERS
Known today more for his struggles for civil rights in Mississippi and his
untimely death at the hands of an assassin than for his writings, Medgar Evers
nevertheless left behind an impressive record of achievement.
Medgar Wiley Evers was born July 2, 1925, near Decatur, Mississippi, and
attended school there until he was inducted into the army in 1943. After serving
in Normandy, he attended Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University), majoring
in business administration. While at Alcorn, he was a member of the debate team,
the college choir, and the football and track teams, and he also held several
student offices and was editor of the campus newspaper for two years and the
annual for one year. In recognition of his accomplishments at Alcorn, he was
listed in Who?s Who in American Colleges.
At Alcorn he met Myrlie Beasley, of Vicksburg, and the next year, they were
married on December 24, 1951. He received his B.A. degree the next semester and
they moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, during which time Evers began to
establish local chapters of the NAACP throughout the Delta and organizing
boycotts of gasoline stations that refused to allow blacks to use their
restrooms. He worked in Mound Bayou as an insurance agent until 1954, the year a
Supreme Court decision ruled school segregation unconstitutional. Despite the
court?s ruling, Evers applied for and was denied admission to the University of
Mississippi Law School, but his attempt to integrate the state?s oldest public
university attracted the attention of the NAACP?s national office, and that same
year he was appointed Mississippi?s first field secretary for the NAACP.
Evers and his wife moved to Jackson, where they worked together to set up the
NAACP office, and he began investigating violent crimes committed against blacks
and sought ways to prevent them. His boycott of Jackson merchants in the early
1960s attracted national attention, and his efforts to have James Meredith
admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962 brought much-needed federal
help for which he had been soliciting. Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss, a
major step in securing civil rights in the state, but an ensuing riot on campus
left two people dead, and Evers? involvement in this and other activities
increased the hatred many people felt toward Evers.
Related Links & Info
Evers met his future wife, Myrlie, at Alcorn College (now Alcorn State
University).
In 1954, Evers became the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi.
The name of Medgar Evers has been immortalized in many ways but perhaps none
more so grandly than in Brooklyn?s Medgar Evers College, a unit of the City
University of New York.
Known today more for his struggles for civil rights in Mississippi and his
untimely death at the hands of an assassin than for his writings, Medgar Evers
nevertheless left behind an impressive record of achievement.
Medgar Wiley Evers was born July 2, 1925, near Decatur, Mississippi, and
attended school there until he was inducted into the army in 1943. After serving
in Normandy, he attended Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University), majoring
in business administration. While at Alcorn, he was a member of the debate team,
the college choir, and the football and track teams, and he also held several
student offices and was editor of the campus newspaper for two years and the
annual for one year. In recognition of his accomplishments at Alcorn, he was
listed in Who?s Who in American Colleges.
At Alcorn he met Myrlie Beasley, of Vicksburg, and the next year, they were
married on December 24, 1951. He received his B.A. degree the next semester and
they moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, during which time Evers began to
establish local chapters of the NAACP throughout the Delta and organizing
boycotts of gasoline stations that refused to allow blacks to use their
restrooms. He worked in Mound Bayou as an insurance agent until 1954, the year a
Supreme Court decision ruled school segregation unconstitutional. Despite the
court?s ruling, Evers applied for and was denied admission to the University of
Mississippi Law School, but his attempt to integrate the state?s oldest public
university attracted the attention of the NAACP?s national office, and that same
year he was appointed Mississippi?s first field secretary for the NAACP.
Evers and his wife moved to Jackson, where they worked together to set up the
NAACP office, and he began investigating violent crimes committed against blacks
and sought ways to prevent them. His boycott of Jackson merchants in the early
1960s attracted national attention, and his efforts to have James Meredith
admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962 brought much-needed federal
help for which he had been soliciting. Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss, a
major step in securing civil rights in the state, but an ensuing riot on campus
left two people dead, and Evers? involvement in this and other activities
increased the hatred many people felt toward Evers.
Related Links & Info
Evers met his future wife, Myrlie, at Alcorn College (now Alcorn State
University).
In 1954, Evers became the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi.
The name of Medgar Evers has been immortalized in many ways but perhaps none
more so grandly than in Brooklyn?s Medgar Evers College, a unit of the City
University of New York.