Biography of: Medgar Evers
Author: Heather D. Myers
Timeline
Leadership Style
Political Philosophy
Timeline
- July 2, 1925 Medgar Wylie Evers born near Decatur Mississippi
- 1943 Inducted into army with his brother Charles in order to learn how to "kill white people." Served in Normandy in World War II.
- 1948 Entered Alcorn College, now Alcorn State University, with a major in business administration. Member of debate team, college choir, football team, track team, class president, editor of campus newspaper and annual, and admitted into Who's Who in American Colleges.
- December 24, 1951 Married Myrlie Beasley, completed his degree, and moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
- 1952 Upon graduation, Evers took a job with Magnolia Mutual Insurance, one of the few black owned businesses. Evers began selling policies and was introduced for the first time to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP), and began selling memberships as well.
- 1953 Drove with Thomas Moore to report to the NAACP on the conditions of the black schools around Delta. A humiliating experience and bitter treatment from Walter Sillers Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives of Mississippi, on this trip left an impression on Evers and a lesson for the future. Sillers refused to even look at Evers while they spoke. Evers was experiencing racism first hand.
- 1954 Evers applies to the University of Mississippi Law School. Marks the first black to attempt to enter U. of Miss. After nine months of review, Evers is rejected on a technicality. Evers attracts the attention of the NAACP.
- November 25, 1954 Hired by the NAACP as field Secretary for $4,500 a year and opens an office in Jackson, Mississippi.
- 1955 Thurgood Marshall recommends that a paid NAACP staff be Added in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and the "toughest place of all," Mississippi.
- 1955-1958 Evers becomes this youngest man on a nine-man death list. He reports on the poor treatment of blacks in which he witnesses and experiences many brutal acts against the black race. Takes a front seat on theTrailways bus in Meridian, Mississippi, is taken to the police station for questioning, is returned to the bus, and beaten in the face by a cabbie. Evers returns no violence.
- 1958-death Spends time and efforts counseling blacks, leads boycotts against gas stations that refuse bathroom privileges to the black public, urges law suits on segregation.
- 1960's Boycotts Jackson Merchants, gains national attention.
- 1961 Evers is beaten by a police officer outside a court hearing for the so called Tougaloo Nine, the first civil rights demonstration in Mississippi.
- 1962 Attempts to get James Meredith admitted to the University of Mississippi. Meredith's admittance is a major step in securing civil rights, brings much needed federal help. Also ensue campus riots leaving four dead and an increase in hatred of Evers by the white race.
- 1962 First lawsuit against the segregation of parks in Jackson filed by Evers.
- June 1963 Evers sends Coca~Colas to police officers stationed to watch his office on a hot summer day out of southern courtesy.
- June 12, 1963 Medgar Wylie Evers is gunned down in his driveway by assassin Byron De LaBeckwith. Black and white leaders alike attend the funeral. Three trials later in 1994 Beckwith is convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
- 1963 28,000 black males are registered voters, Evers was the first!
Leadership Style
Medgar Evers was a democratic leader. By definition of shared power and group consensus of approval, Evers fits perfectly. The NAACP appointed him as a representative in Mississippi, he worked with the organization for the rights of the black race. Some viewed him as "a Messiah for their troubled times."
Evers proved to possess organizational skills necessary for a good, effective leader. He paid great attention to detail in his work with the NAACP. In one report of a man gunned to death he writes, "Duckworth was shot five times in 'self-defense', but what was very strange to me was the fact that his face showed three or four different scars which could have resulted from a beating though alleged to have been just shot to death." Evers looked for details.
Evers was also a good symbol for the movement. "Violence is not the way," Evers never pushed for a violent demonstration. Thomas Moore, a colleague, remembers Evers; "He was very serious in his delivery. He wasn't a radical type man. He was a man you knew was serious." He had charisma; he could express what others could not. In his counseling, in his recruiting of memberships into the NAACP, and in his leadership of Mississippi through the movement, he spoke for the black race. He was also pragmatic, a peacemaker that starts small and grows into something big. He applied to law school, was denied but continued and eventually succeeded in getting a young black male admitted. He, along with three other friends was the first to register to vote. A small step that led to 28,000 registered voters of the black race by his death.
Political Philosophy
His political philosophy is one to be admired by leaders in any area. He was first and foremost, nonviolent. He was innovational; he wanted new change. Unhappy with the existing order and geared toward change, he disliked violence more and would not sacrifice that value during the movement. In an interview with Francis H. Mitchell, Evers remarks on his brutal beating on the Trailways bus, "You can't let your emotions run away with you. If I had retaliated, it would have helped defeat the cause for which I am struggling." "I don't have any bitterness toward the white man, there are some of his ways that I don't care for, and as long as God gives me strength to work and change them, I'm going to do it." He was working to make changes, to go in a new direction. "I'll be damned if I'm going to let the white man lick me. There's something out here that I've got to do for my kids, and I'm not going to stop until I've done it." Evers had much conviction on the changes he wanted for the black race. He was passionate but would not turn to violence to succeed.
Radicalism, the need for change without violence, is what Evers represented with the NAACP. In the same interview he states, "Violence, certainly, is not the way. Returning physical harm for physical harm will not solve the problem. And one of our strongest appeals to the conscience of southern whites is that the NAACP has never been linked to violence. Not even the southern bigot has much ground to stand on when he tries to rabble rouse about our winning court decisions. But give him a little Negro violence to point to, and he will have a good selling point for stirring up race hatred." Evers also turned to the youth for progression. "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty. The youth have definite responsibility to help, because much of what we are struggling for now will benefit them directly 10 years from now-will open up opportunities that were not open when I came along."
Evers fought an honest fair fight for civil rights from a young age. Upon exiting the arm, he never lost sight of his goals and he never deviated from the moral path in search of his dream. He never showed outright hatred to the white man, even a few days before his death, he provided two white police officers a cold coke. Evers was the image of fine values, American values, that he wanted everyone to share. His final words mirrored his last effort for the freedom he had fought so hard for, in some ways, he did succeed and get his freedom, but for the black race, the fight would continue. Evers did lead a tough Mississippi into a movement that would never be forgotten.
"Sit me up, turn me loose…"
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