In , the same year the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education struck down racial segregation in public schools, Evers became one of the first blacks to apply for admission to the University of Mississippi Law School. Evers accepted, and by December he had opened an office in Jackson where within three years he had nearly doubled NAACP membership in Mississippi to more than 15, In August , the Chicago-born Till just 14 years old and visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi was kidnapped by a group of white men after reportedly flirting with the wife of a local shopkeeper.
Evers helped integrate Ole Miss. Seven years after Medgar Evers own failed attempt at gaining admittance to the University of Mississippi, he was instrumental in finally desegregating the school through his work with James Meredith. Meredith, who like Evers had approached the NAACP for help after being denied admission, had taken his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor in In response, President John F.
Evers survived several attempts on his life, including nearly being run down by a car and having his home firebombed in May Myrlie Evers later remembered that other African Americans would cross the street just so they would not be seen close to her husband, lest they become targets as well.
Kennedy, himself a decorated WWII veteran, delivered a live televised speech to the nation on the issue of civil rights. Kennedy implored his fellow Americans to examine their consciences in the wake of protests requiring the deployment of the st Airborne Division to desegregate schools in Birmingham, Alabama.
It was a bold speech that all but one of his advisors tried to dissuade him from delivering. They knew there was little support for the civil rights legislation then being considered by Congress, and they advised the president against wasting valuable political capital. Later that night, Evers was returning to the quiet suburban home he shared with his wife and three young children.
As he stepped out of his car and made his way to the front door, he was shot in the back by a sniper concealed in a grove of trees several hundred feet away. His family heard the shot and ran outside to his aid. Evers died less than one hour later at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Medgar Evers was just 37 years old. Evers was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on June Three thousand people attended the ceremony.
On June 28, the cover of Life magazine bore the image of Myrlie Evers comforting her bereaved son at the funeral. Office of Human Resources. Who's Who in HR. New Employee Resource Center. Policies and Procedures. Nevertheless, Evers remained completely absorbed in the struggle for freedom. His workday often lasted up to twenty hours, consisting of organizing boycotts, marches, prayer vigils, and bailing out those who had been arrested.
In early , the Evers home was firebombed. A few weeks later, on June 12, , President John F. Fifty minutes later, Medgar Evers was dead. The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI undertook an investigation of the case and soon came up with a suspect, white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith, whose fingerprints were found on a gun at the murder scene. De la Beckwith was tried by all-white juries twice in the mids, and both times jurors failed to convict him.
It took thirty years for de la Beckwith to be brought to trial a third time. On February 5, , a racially mixed jury found him guilty of the murder of Medgar Evers. Sentenced to life imprisonment, De la Beckwith died of heart failure in
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