Week of programs commemorate 60th anniversary of civil rights activist Medgar Evers' death

Lici Beveridge, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Updated ·4 min read
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A loaf of bread cost around 22 cents in 1963. A cup of coffee was about 35 cents. Gasoline? That was roughly 30 cents per gallon for that new car that cost around $3,000.

A new home could be purchased for roughly $18,000 — an affordable price for the average American family whose household income was $6,200 per year. More than two-thirds of American families could afford to buy a home in 1963, compared with 43% of the population today.

But the simplicity of life for some did not reflect the bubbling undercurrents rippling through the nation and in Mississippi.

  • In November 1963, President John Kennedy, a champion for civil rights, was assassinated in Dallas.

  • In September 1963, four young Black girls were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.

  • In August 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The nonviolent rally drew more than 250,000 people to the nation's capital

  • In July 1963, Clyde Kennard died just a few months after he was released from prison on trumped-up charges filed against him after he made attempts in the late 1950s to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi.

  • In May 1963, two Black students were enrolled at the University of Alabama to begin the integration process. A month later, then-Gov. George Wallace stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium in an attempt to stop them from entering.

Myrlie and Medgar Evers in Mississippi in the early 1950s.
Myrlie and Medgar Evers in Mississippi in the early 1950s.

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Next week, people will gather in Jackson to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, who was shot in the back and killed outside his home on June 12, 1963.

The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute will host the Voices of Courage and Justice event that runs from June 5 to June 12 at venues throughout the capital city.

His wife Myrlie Evers-Williams, now 90, will be honored for her continued work in civil rights in the decades following her husband's death.

Evers-Williams will be given a lifetime achievement award during the “More Than A Widow” brunch held in her honor, set for June 8.

Other dignitaries will receive the inaugural MMEI Voices of Courage and Justice Award.

"The legacies of Medgar and Myrlie Evers are important because they serve as a roadmap for all activists, advocates, and allies," said Dr. Marino Bruce, chair of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute board. "Currently, our nation and the Southern region in particular is facing a dramatic rollback of the rights and freedoms that drove Medgar and Myrlie to activism in the 1950s and '60s."

Medgar Evers was the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi. Myrlie Evers worked alongside her husband to establish the first NAACP office in the state.

According to the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, the couple's work was "instrumental in capturing critical evidence and witnesses in the investigation into Emmett Till’s murder."

Mar 15, 2023; Claremont, Calif.; Myrlie Evers-Williams, the civil rights pioneer and wife of Medgar Evers who was assassinated in 1963, looks over some personal photographs and magazines that she donated to her alma mater Pomona College.
Mar 15, 2023; Claremont, Calif.; Myrlie Evers-Williams, the civil rights pioneer and wife of Medgar Evers who was assassinated in 1963, looks over some personal photographs and magazines that she donated to her alma mater Pomona College.

Myrlie Evers is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the fight for social justice, the institute said in a news release. She went on to lead a 30-year campaign to bring her husband’s killer to justice while raising the couple's three children.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers' daughter, Reena Evers-Everette, serves as executive director of the institute named in her parents' honor.

“Our mission at MMEI and through these festivities is to educate, enable and empower all generations with the tools and fortitude needed at this critical juncture to protect our freedoms," Evers-Everette said in a news release. "Now more than ever, we need everyone to stand up, get involved and join together to create a better life for all Americans."

Following her husband’s death, Myrlie Evers continued the fight for civil rights and demonstrate by her actions and abilities that the obstacles to equality could be overcome.

In 1995, Myrlie Evers was elected chair of the NAACP board.

"Medgar Evers and his family made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure many of the freedoms that we enjoy today," said Kevin Frazier, this year's host of the institute's gala, slated for June 9. "It is so important that we never forget the he'ros and she’ros who paved the way for us, while living in, what was basically, a terrorist state. I am so honored to be a part of the celebration for these two American Icons and Civil Rights Pioneers."

Learn more

For tickets or more information about the events commemorating the 60th anniversary of Medgar Evers' death, visit eversinstitute.org/

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Events celebrate Medgar Evers on 60th anniversary of his death