This Day in History: 12 June 2020
12 June 1963
57 years ago, today, Medgar Evers, an African American civil rights leader, was shot to death by a white supremacist outside his home in Mississippi. In the Second World War, Evers had volunteered for the US army, and participated in the invasion of Normandy. In 1952, he joined the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, also known as the NAACP, and acted as a field worker. He travelled through Mississippi encouraging African Americans to vote and recruited them into the civil rights movement. As well as this, he played a significant role in getting witnesses and compiling evidence for the Emmett Till murder case.
After Evers' funeral in Jackson, Mississippi, he was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. His death was also condemned by leaders such as President John F. Kennedy. Protests were sparked in 1964 when the first trial of chief suspect Byron De La Beckwith ended with a deadlock by an all-white jury. De La Beckwith was set free after a second all-white jury failed to reach a decision, but the case was reopened three decades later, as it came under pressure from civil rights leaders and Evers' family. Beckwith was finally charged with murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 73 and died in 2001.
Want to find out more about the life and legacy of Medgar Evers? Click here for more information, or watch the 1996 'Ghosts of Mississippi', as it features a plot based on De La Beckwith's 1994 trial.
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