Medgar Wiley Evers was born July 2nd, 1925. His parents, James Evers who worked in a sawmill and Jesse Evers who was a laundress. He grew up in Decatur Mississippi, and lived an average life style for the era he grew up in, the Jim Crow era during the Great depression. He had three siblings and grew up in a family that valued education, hard work and religion. Medgar’s older brother, Charles, was his idol. Charles and Medgar were the closest out of the siblings and did many things together, including fishings, swimming, hunting and more. During the times he was in school the public education system was segregated, therefore he went to an all black school. To say the least his public education was far from good, his school had very few resources and the quality of education Evers got reflected this.
In 1943, Medgar was drafted into the Army. This followed the footsteps of his older brother Charles but Medgar was also interested in seeing the world and this seemed like an opportunity to do so. While enlisted he fought in World War II in both France and Germany. During this time he took part in the Battle of Normandy. He was later in 1946 honorably discharged with the ranking of a sergeant.
Upon his arrival home he realized not much has changed in regards to racial issues that he faced. He fought for freedom, but freedom was far from what he got. As a black man in this era he faced many struggles, one being that him and other fellow black veterans were shunned away from voting in the 1946 election. Evers did not let the discrimination he faced damper his desire to make something of himself and his determination to bring about equality among races. Evers enrolled at Alcorn College, which is now Alcorn State University where he studied business administration. He was very involved during his time as a student, participating in football, track, choir and was the junior class president. During his final year in college he married a fellow student, Myrlie Beasley from Vicksburg, Mississippi and she was studying education. The two got married December 24, 1951 and Evers earned his degree the following Spring. The two later had three children, Darrell, Reena and James. After graduation the two moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi and Evers began his career as an insurance salesman for Magnolia Mutual Insurance Company where he sold life and hospitalization policies to fellow african americans. The owner of the company Dr. Howard, who was a black political activist and president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), was believed to have a great influence on Evers’ involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Evers’ first official dive into the movements when he helped Dr. Howard and the RCNL organize a boycott of gas stations that denied blacks the use of their restrooms. Medgar’s brother Charles was also involved in the RCNL. This gave Evers the training he needed in activism to later be extremely influential
In February of1954 Medgar applied to University of Mississippi Law School, but was rejected due to his race and the fact that the school was then segregated. Evers was obviously very unhappy about this and took his case to the NAACP which was at the time focused on campaigning desegregation of schools. Evers sought a law suit against the school with Thurgood Marshall as his attorney, who was also a Civil Rights activist and eventually won the case of Brown v. Board of Education. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 the United States Supreme court decided that segregation of public schools for black and white students is unconstitutional due to a violation of the Equal Protection Clause (part of the 14th amendment), which overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. The win of the case was a giant step forward for the Civil Rights Movement and stood as a glimpse of hope for african americans.
In December of 1954 Evers became a field officer for the NAACP and was the first in Mississippi, he also helped get his wife, Myrlie, to be the NAACP office’s paid secretary. This took him and his family to Jackson, Mississippi but Evers’ did a lot of traveling for the agency. He did a lot of recruitment for new NAACP members as well as organizing many voter registration efforts, leading demonstrations and organizing boycotts of companies that discriminated against blacks. Evers was involved in fighting for justice in many high profile cases, such as the lyching of Emmett Till in 1955. Till was a 14 year old african american boy, originally from Chicago but was visiting family in Mississippi. Till was brutally killed for supposedly flirting with a white woman. Though Evers was not nationally well known his involvement with the NAACP and devotion to just led him to become a civil rights icon in Mississippi.
As most high-profile NAACP members were, Evers was a target for those who opposed civil rights and equality. There were many violent threats on Evers and his family, including a firebombing of his home in may of 1963. This became such a threat to the Evers family that Medgar and Myrlie had taught their children what to do in a case of their family being targeted, as well as Medgar often being escorted home by FBI agents and police. However, despite the fear for his safety from his family after President John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address he wasn’t escorted home and this night tragedy struck. In the early hours of June 12, 1963 Medgar arrived home after a meeting with NAACP lawyers and was carrying t-shirts that said “Jim Crow Must Go” on them he was shot in the back by a bullet by a high-powered Enfield 1917 rifle. He then staggered a bit and fell face first into the concrete of his driveway. When his wife heard the shots she came running out and his neighbor, Houston Wells, who had also heard the shot called 911. Police did not take long to arrive but Wells drop Evers to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the local hospital, but was initially denied care because he was african american. After some pleading and explanation of his status to the hospital he was admitted, but that wasn’t enough and he died in the hospital. He was the first black man to be admitted to an all white hospital in Mississippi which could be viewed as one final achievement for Evers.