JACKSON, Miss.–It was June 12, 1963 when white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith gunned down Medgar Evers, the 37-year-old field secretary for Mississippi’s NAACP. Since that time there have been many positive changes in the way blacks and whites get along in the state and now Evers will be honored in both Washington, D.C. and in Jackson, where he was shot.
A week of events has been planned, sponsored by the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute. One of the first is Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery, where Evers is buried. The 10:30 a.m. memorial service will include several speakers, including current Miss. Gov. Phil Bryant.
An event Wednesday evening at the Newseum at 7:30 will discuss the legacy Evers has left behind.
Events then move to Jackson and Evers’ brother Charles is involved in the planning of some of those events.
Those include a gospel concert at Tougaloo College at 6 p.m. Thursday, a Friday parade at 10 a.m. at the corner of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Blvds. (Freedom corner), and a Friday banquet at the Masonic Temple at 7 p.m.
There are several other events leading up to and on June 12. For a complete list, follow this link:
http://eversinstitute.org/
