1. Civil Rights Fight
Medgar Evers worked to overcome the disenfranchisement of blacks in Mississippi by organizing voter registration drives. He also organized boycotts, such as that of gas stations that denied blacks the use of their restrooms. Protesting injustice and rocking the boat has seldom been popular, and in late May, 1963, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into Evers’ garage. A week later, somebody tried to run him over as he left the NAACP office in Jackson, Mississippi. A week after, on June 12th, 1963, Evers was shot to death on his driveway by a KKK member.
As a World War II veteran, Evers was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, but he was not honored by the justice system. Despite the Klansman’s fingerprints on the murder weapon, and notwithstanding that he had publicly boasted of the murder, all-white juries twice deadlocked in 1964 and failed to reach a verdict. Evers’ killer remained free until 1994, when a third trial, this time before a racially mixed jury, finally secured a murder conviction.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
American Revolution Org – The Revolution’s Black Soldiers
Black Past – Deacons For Defense and Justice
Egerton, Douglas R. – Death of Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America (2009)
Holway, John B. – Red Tail, Black Wings: The Men of America’s Black Air Force (1997)
Nation, The, June 17th, 2004 – By Any Means Necessary
Schama, Simon – Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution (2006)
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Black Wings: African American Pioneer Aviators
