Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was an American civil rights activist assassinated in Mississippi in 1963.
As field secretary for the NAACP, he organized voter registration drives and investigated racial violence in the Jim Crow South.
His murder by a white supremacist—and the killer's eventual conviction thirty years later—became emblematic of both the era's brutality and the slow arc of justice.
Civil rights advocacy organization
- civil rightsGuaranteed individual legal protections
- voter registrationSigning up for elections
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
- boycottOrganized economic protest
investigation · Emmett Till · organizing · membership drives · African American · community · advocacy · integration
Mid-twentieth century date
- sniperConcealed precision shooter
- drivewayPrivate residential road
- JacksonCommon surname and place
- murderDeliberate unlawful killing
white supremacist · cold case · retrial · conviction · widow · martyrdom · ambush · hate crime
Common surname and place
- DeltaAlluvial formation at mouth
- voter registrationSigning up for elections
- segregatedForcibly kept separate
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
home · driveway · burial · Arlington · legacy · memorial · statue · college
Victim for beliefs
- memorialThing preserving remembrance
- stampMark-making device
- boulevardBroad, tree-lined street
- Arlington National CemeteryMilitary burial ground, Virginia
posthumous · inspiration · statue · commemorated · pioneer · sacrifice · remembered · honored
Judicial examination of claims
- mistrialInvalid court proceeding
- hung juryUnanimous verdict impossible
- retrialFresh court proceeding
- convictionFirmly held belief
1994 · persistence · verdict · courtroom · prosecution · witnesses · decades
NAACP
Civil rights advocacy organization
- civil rightsGuaranteed individual legal protections
- voter registrationSigning up for elections
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
boycott · investigation · Emmett Till · organizing · membership drives · African American · community · advocacy · integration · protest
1963
Mid-twentieth century date
murder · white supremacist · cold case · retrial · conviction · widow · martyrdom · ambush · hate crime
Jackson
Common surname and place
- DeltaAlluvial formation at mouth
- voter registrationSigning up for elections
- segregatedForcibly kept separate
Jim Crow · home · driveway · burial · Arlington · legacy · memorial · statue · college · boulevard
martyr
Victim for beliefs
Arlington National Cemetery · posthumous · inspiration · statue · commemorated · pioneer · sacrifice · remembered · honored
trial
Judicial examination of claims
conviction · 1994 · persistence · verdict · courtroom · prosecution · witnesses · decades
Medgar EversGeorge Wallace
Alabama segregationist politician
Medgar Everslynch mobs
Crowds enacting illegal executions