On June 12, 1963, NAACP State Field Secretary, Medgar Wiley Evers, Was Shot In The Back By A Single-Round From A High-Powered Rifle, In The Driveway Of His Jackson, Mississippi Home. He Died An Hour Later.
Medgar Evers Was The First Major Black Civil Rights Leader To Be Murdered During The 1960's. The Deaths Of Malcolm X And Martin Luther King, Jr. Would Soon Follow.
For 10 Years He Was Involved Civil Rights Causes, Including A Boycott Campaign Against White Merchants And Was Instrumental In Eventually Desegregating The University of Mississippi, When That Institution Was Finally Forced To Enroll James Meredith In 1962.
In The Weeks Prior To His Death, Evers Had Received Numerous Death Threats --- Largely Due To His Investigation Into The Murder Of Black Teen, Emmett Till, And His Vocal Support Of Clyde Kennard, Who After Several Unsuccessful Attempts To Enroll At Mississippi Southern College, Was Framed By School Authorities And Arrested For The Possession Of Liquor.
Evers' Assassin, Ku Klux Klan Member, Byron De La Beckwith, Was Tried Twice Before Being Convicted Of The Murder In 1994 (30 Years Later). De La Beckwith Died In Prison In 2001.
The Legacy Of Medgar Evers
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
What an awesome legacy!
Friday, June 12th 2009 at 5:04AM
Jen Fad
Just want to thank EVERYONE for your Comments and Feedback, regarding this post!!! I sincerely appreciate the responses.
Like all of you, I believe it's important to keep alive, the stories of OUR people. I hope you'll continue to read and provide comments on my future blog posts.
PEACE & BLESSINGS, Hugh
Friday, June 12th 2009 at 11:49PM
Hugh Gaddy
Ameen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 27th 2009 at 12:48PM
robert powell
Love your postings Brother Gaddy. Keep them coming!!!
Thursday, December 3rd 2009 at 11:34AM
Siebra Muhammad
Yes!!! Yes!!! and Yes!!!!
Telling the stories keeps them alive.
Wednesday, February 10th 2010 at 10:45AM
Richard Kigel
Oh... You wanted to hear my comment..... smile.... After Emmit Till was beat and killed, I believe it was MR. Evers who notified NAACP Headquarters of the Murder. Shortly after his death... Rosa Parks was arrested, and the started the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Tuesday, May 4th 2010 at 3:55PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
Mr. Evers was VERY INVOLVED with the Till Murder...I had the honor of working with his brother, Charles, for 10 years, when I lived in Mississippi. Got so much insight into that case...
Tuesday, May 4th 2010 at 4:37PM
Hugh Gaddy
WOW... tell me did he whistle at the lady or did he call her "baby" or something to that fact?
Tuesday, May 4th 2010 at 4:44PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
ooooGaddy, I got sooo many questions
Tuesday, May 4th 2010 at 4:45PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
Cynthia, my father has a copy of the Jet magazine documenting Emmitt Till's funeral (which he got from my great-grandmother). I used it for a Black History project in college once, and in the magazine his mother shared that Emmitt suffered from a stuttering problem as a child. In an attempt to cure his condition, she would order her son to whistle when he felt himself stuttering. So one the day Emmitt went to Money and was trying to tell the lady what we wanted from the grocery store he whistled and she assumed he was flirting with her. So she got mad about that and called her family members and that's how they ended up beating and murdering him.
Wednesday, May 5th 2010 at 4:25PM
Siebra Muhammad
Also let me say that Jet magazine photo brings back a lot of painful memories...
Wednesday, May 5th 2010 at 4:27PM
Siebra Muhammad
tHANKS Siebra.. I checked it out... Very nice
Sunday, May 9th 2010 at 8:45AM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
This is a story... that should be studied in public schools...
Thursday, June 3rd 2010 at 9:23AM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
Hello to All,
All you ghettobilly Negroes taken solace in the past and totally empty headed about the future.
When a people are in a dilemma such as were the children of Israel and Black Americans you only have one choice to make. Either you live in the past or you want a prosperous future.
On the other hand, when it is our right to live in the past is when you have secured your present in the prognosis of your future is tremendously good.
We, Black Americans are mentally dead people since we take joy in our tragic past, am I right.
This is a timeless and a great post just as every bit of BIA is very important,because it is all linked to evey thing that was passed before this leader/that event in African-American history. for example, the name Emmitt Till is tied to back then as a great part of the first Klan's man found guilty(and how he came to face his crime committed so many years ago) as this to is tied to the first Black president in tis country.
This is why this is so very great for us as a race in this battle to just survive for the next generation of fartheer CHANGE, because YES WE DID...much love to all of us in this effort to pass on our history in America as one to be p-r-o-u-d of always(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
