Medgar Evers

It is really hard to travel through the south in search of historic places without having to confront some of the worst chapters in our American past.  During my last road trip, I focused specifically on visiting sites related to the civil rights movement.

VERY early one morning, I visited the former home of Medgar Evers.  I say VERY early because if you watch the video it looks as if I had just woken up and I am very soft spoken.  Obviously the morning coffee had not quite kicked in in.

Medgar Evers was the field office secretary for the NAACP in Jackson, Mississippi.  He spent a good deal of time advocating for voting rights and also the end of segregation.  He had also been heavily involved in trying to secure justice in the Emmett Till case, which sadly still has not been realized over 50 years later.

Evers and his family knew of the dangers involved with his work, but despite that he continued to fight.  Shortly after he got home right after midnight on June 12, 1963, Evers was gunned down and killed by an assassin. Byron DeLaBeckwith was accused of the murder and went to trial for it two times in the 1960's.  Each trial came back with a hung jury and Beckwith was set loose.  Finally after almost 30 years Beckwith was brought back to trial and finally found guilty of murdering Evers.  He died in prison in 2001.

I first remember hearing about Evers in my 10th grade history class and I followed the new trial closely.  Upon setting out on my latest road trip, I knew that the Evers home would have to be a stop on the itinerary.  The home is now a museum and you can schedule tour ahead of time if you would like to see the inside.  Because it was so early when I got there, I could only see the outside.  I tried to look through the windows but an old lady next door kept giving me dirty looks so I just filmed what I could and moved on.

Although his life was cut dramatically short, Ever's impact upon Mississippi was great.  Sadly, it was his death that probably provoked the most change.  For those of you interested, there was a movie made about bringing Beckwith to justice called "Ghosts of Mississippi".  Also, if you saw "The Help" you might recall that Evers death plays a prominent role in that film and book.