In this June 15, 1963 file photo, mourners file past the open casket of Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss., prior to funeral services for the slain integration leader. Several events are being held to remember Evers, the first Mississippi field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was 37 when he was assassinated outside the family’s north Jackson home on June 12, 1963. (AP Photo/file)
On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar W. Evers was assassinated by a white supremacist outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 37.
Evers began his involvement with the NAACP in 1952 while working for a Black-owned insurance company in the Mississippi Delta. As the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, he focused on recruiting members and investigating racial violence.
Medgar Evers, Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), poses for a photo, Aug. 9, 1955, in Jackson, Miss. He was assassinated outside his home in Jackson on June 12, 1963, as a result of his work to promote racial equality, voting rights and social justice. (AP Photo, File)
He also spearheaded voter registration efforts and organized mass protests. Evers and his family were frequent targets of white supremacist violence.
He was laid to rest on June 19, 1963, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where he was honored with a full military burial attended by over 3,000 mourners.
Medgar Evers, Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is seen in this 1963 photo. On Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, Mississippi’s congressional delegation sent a letter urging President Joe Biden to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to civil rights leader Evers. He was assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Miss., on June 12, 1963, as a result of his work to promote racial equality, voting rights and social justice. (AP Photo/File)
Clay Cane is an award-winning journalist, writer, radio host, and political commentator. A graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in African-American Studies, his work on race, culture, and politics have appeared in national publications, including the Washington Post, CNN, and The Grio. Clay is a regular political commentator on MSNBC.
