Blackwell Reference Online

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Medgar Wiley Evers typified the black grassroots leadership that made the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s possible. He was born on July 2, 1925, in Decatur, Mississippi. In 1943, Evers dropped out of high school and, lying about his age, joined his older brother Charles in the United States Army. After serving a tour in Europe, he returned to Mississippi, finished high school, and enrolled in Alcorn College. Evers faced harsh opposition when he attempted to vote on his twenty-first birthday; he and his brother were met with armed resistance at the courthouse. This episode, along with his experiences in college, strengthened Evers's desire to challenge Mississippi's segregated society. Evers married Myrlie Beasley, an Alcorn student, on Christmas Eve, 1951. The following year, Evers completed his work at Alcorn College and became an insurance salesman. He was also a founding member of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), a local civil rights organization that challenged segregation and voter disenfranchisement in Mississippi. Evers briefly contemplated whether such non-violent tactics could work in his home state and considered armed resistance modeled on the Mau Mau in Kenya . He decided to pursue a non-violent solution to Mississippi's racial problems, but he also upheld the idea of self-defense and prepared for the possibility of violence against himself ... log in or subscribe to read full text