Evers, Medgar

Evers, Medgar (Wiley)

(born July 2, 1925, Decatur, Miss., U.S.—died June 12, 1963, Jackson, Miss.) African American civil-rights activist. After serving in World War II he entered business in Mississippi. He and his elder brother, Charles, began organizing local affiliates of the NAACP; in 1954 Medgar became the organization's first field secretary in Mississippi. He traveled throughout the state recruiting members and organizing economic boycotts. In June 1963, hours after a speech on civil rights by Pres. John F. Kennedy, Evers was shot and killed in an ambush outside his home. A white segregationist was charged with the murder but was set free after two trials in 1964 resulted in hung juries; he was finally convicted after a third trial in 1994. Evers's widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, later was the first woman to head the NAACP (1995–98).