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Medgar Evers was an American civil rights activist in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was born on July 2, 1925 in Decatur, MS, the third of five children. Due to racial segregation, Medger and his siblings had to walk 12 miles each day to school. After working hard to receive his high school diploma, at age 17 Medgar enlisted in the United States Army. He served in World War II, earning the World War II Victory Medal. After serving with the US Army, Medgar enrolled at Alcorn State University. He married a classmate, Myrlie Beasley, in 1951, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952. Medgar and Myrlie had three children together, and settled down just outside of Jackson, MS. 

In 1954, Medgar applied to the University of Mississippi Law School, but was rejected due to his race. This rejection was unconstitutional, as the US Supreme Court had ruled earlier in 1954 against segregated schools (Brown v Board of Education). In November of 1954, Medgar was named as the NAACP’s first field secretary for Mississippi, and he worked tirelessly to fight for the state to uphold the constitutional rights of all citizens.

Though Medgar had experienced no shortage of hostility as a prominent black leader in the midst of the civil rights movement, in 1963 the levels of hostility became noticeably more severe. A molotov cocktail was thrown into the carport of his home in late May. In early June he was nearly run over by a car after leaving the NAACP office in Jackson, MS.

On Wednesday, June 12, 1963, only a few hours after President John F. Kennedy’s nationally televised Civil Rights Address, Medgar pulled into his driveway, stepped out of his car, and was shot in the back and killed by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where he received full military honors before a crowd of more than 3,000 people. The murder of Medgar Evers became a catalyst for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The house of Medgar and Myrlie Evers still stands, and has become a National Monument.