About 禄 History 禄 Murder of Medgar Evers

Murder of Medgar Evers

On June 12, 1963, U.S. president John F. Kennedy鈥攚ho would be assassinated only a few short months later鈥攃alled the white resistance to civil rights for blacks 鈥渁 moral crisis鈥� and pledged his support to federal action on integration.

That same night, [Medgar]聽Evers聽returned home just after midnight from a series of NAACP functions. As he left his car with a handful of t-shirts that read 鈥淛im Crow Must Go,鈥� he was shot in the back. His wife and children, who had been waiting up for him, found him bleeding to death on the doorstep. 鈥淚 opened the door, and there was聽Medgar聽at the steps, face down in blood,鈥� Myrlie聽Evers聽remembered in聽People magazine. 鈥淭he children ran out and were shouting, 鈥楧addy, get up!鈥濃€�

Evers聽died fifty minutes later at the hospital. On the day of his funeral in Jackson, even the use of beatings and other strong-arm police tactics could not quell the anger among the thousands of black mourners. The NAACP posthumously awarded its 1963 Spingarn medal to聽Medgar Evers. It was a fitting tribute to a man who had given so much to the organization and had given his life for its cause.

Rewards were offered by the governor of Mississippi and several all-white newspapers for information about Evers鈥檚 murderer, but few came forward with information. However, an FBI investigation uncovered a suspect, Byron de la Beckwith, an outspoken opponent of integration and a founding member of Mississippi鈥檚 White Citizens Council. A gun found 150 feet from the site of the shooting had Beckwith鈥檚 fingerprint on it. Several witnesses placed Beckwith in Evers鈥檚 neighborhood that night. On the other hand, Beckwith denied shooting聽Evers聽and claimed that his gun had been stolen days before the incident. He too produced witnesses鈥攐ne of them a policeman鈥攚ho swore before the court that Beckwith was some 60 miles from Evers鈥檚 home on the night he was killed. (1)