by Though there’s not much to this site managed by the National Park Service, it feels important to honor the legacy of Medgar and Myrlie Evers, and the sacrifice they made in the ongoing fight for Civil Rights.
The Evers’ home is located in Jackson, Mississippi. It was built in 1956, when the Evers purchased it for their growing family.
Medgar Evers attempted to integrate the law school at the University of Mississippi after the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional (Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka, 1954), but his application was rejected. However, this drew the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who hired him to be their first Mississippi Field Secretary in 1955. Per the NPS website:
He traveled throughout the state encouraging people to register to vote. He investigated and documented cases of discrimination and violence against blacks. Evers worked with other civil rights organizations, and encouraged younger activists’ involvement in local youth councils across the state. Through press releases, interviews, and speeches, he brought news of the struggle in Mississippi to people nationwide. His very public leadership made him a target of threats and harassment.
Though not an official employee, Myrlie was a key player in Medgar’s work. She supported Medgar by effectively acting as his secretary: writing letters, answering the phone, arranging his schedule. I can only imagine the hate mail and phone calls she must have been subject to.
Obviously the family knew risks that their work brought with it, and I can’t fathom the courage it took to do it. They kept their three children’s beds on the floor, so that they would be below the line of gunfire through a window. They practiced drills of crawling to safety in case of an attack. They had no front door, believing a sheltered side door provided better security for entering and exiting the home.
The family had been the recipients of ongoing threats of violence, and on May 28, 1963 a Molotov cocktail was thrown onto the carport.
On June 11, 1963, Medgar returned late from a meeting discussing a response to the governor, who was refusing to allow African-Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama.
While standing in the carport, he was shot by a sniper rifle from an undeveloped lot about 200 feet away.
He died the next morning. As he served in the United States Army, he was buried with honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Photos of Medgar’s funeral were national news and appeared in Life Magazine.
The murderer was arrested almost immediately, as his rifle and fingerprints were found at the scene.
Alas, two deadlocked trials with all-male, all-white juries meant he was allowed to go free. Following his release he bragged openly about his crime.
Fortunately, Myrlie refused to let him go unpunished, and in 1994 – 31 years later!! – he was finally convicted – in part using his own words against him. He died while incarcerated in 2001.
Myrlie moved to California but continued her Civil Rights work. She maintained ownership of the home, however, before donating it to Tougaloo College in 1993. The home only recently opened as a National Park Service site, and it feels a bit like they are still working out the details. The house is set up as a time capsule going back to the days when the Edgers lived here. A bullet hole is chillingly maintained where, after striking Evers, it passed through the front window and interior wall and came to rest on the counter.
