Life and Times
Civil rights activist Medgar Wiley Evers was born on July 2 in 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi and died on June 12 in 1963. His effort in the rights movement to defend the rights of people is always overshadowed when the concentration is focussed on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. He was a son of James Evers and Jessie Wright. James Evers was a sawmill worker and a peasant farmer. His mother, on the other hand, was a very devoted Christian and a homemaker. Medgar was the third born in a family of four that also included Charles, Elizabeth and Ruth. He is said to have had an independent mind from his childhood. In spite of the tough times for black children of his era, his parents made sure that Medgar attended school without interruptions. This was very different because at that time it was very difficult to find black children going to school on full-time basis (Brown 17). Most of them would interrupt their learning to take up odd jobs such as harvesting crops. His urge to become a human rights activist was developed following an experience he saw when he was young. A family friend was lynched for seemingly disrespecting a white woman.
Medgar was recruited in the army at a teenage age of seventeen years in nineteen forty-two (Williams 12). This gave him an opportunity to fight in the Second World War and got the experience of working in a foreign country. Jessie, his mother, was very strict and this contributed to Medgar growing up as much disciplined man. This necessitated his service in the military. Following his encounters while in the military, he chose to live to fight racism back in his homeland. He grew up through tough times as Decatur was one of the segregated towns and the most important economic activity was farming (Brown 37). Medgar met and married Myrlie Evers in 1952 after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Alcom Agricultural and Mechanical College. After graduating Medgar worked as a salesperson but went on to get three children with his wife. Though working as an insurance salesperson at Magnolia Mutual Insurance Company did not earn him good salary, he derived satisfaction in working for a business owned by a black.
His role in activists’ movements
Medgar had always stated that other than so many goals that he wanted to pursue, his main aim was to be important in establishing a place where blacks and whites would be equal. Magnolia Mutual Insurance Company was one of the businesses that were owned, run, funded and serving Africans in Mississippi (Williams 39). Working for this company enabled him to travel a lot around Mississippi. He therefore, got firsthand experience of the levels of poverty that people went through. This was in addition to his life that was a testimony of poverty in itself. Moreover, his stint in the armed forces gave him a chance to understand how Blacks were mistreated in America yet they would get recognition elsewhere. Medgar wanted to join the University of Mississippi to study Law but his application was declined on racial grounds and he was very disappointed.
The issues raised above contributed to him joining the National Association for the advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) as a volunteer in the association’s Mississippi chapter. He played a big role in the movements activities in the nineteen fifties and sixties. His outstanding character was his love for fighting for the rights of people to gain equality. As a volunteer, Medgar began by selling the membership to the association while selling the insurance products for his employers (Williams 41). The consequences of joining NAACP at that time were dangerous and this scared most blacks away from joining as members. However, this was not the case with Medgar. Following the rejection of his application to study at the University of Mississippi, NAACP hired him as a field secretary to Jackson that was to the Deep South in recognition of his effort and contribution to the movement’s activities.
Implications of his death
His duties as a field sectary included recruiting new members that happened to be his toughest role of all the tasks he used to carry out. In addition, he was tasked with the responsibility of investigating and making public any mistreatment directed at African-Americans. This included gathering information, classifying and reporting all forms of abuses in Mississippi. Medgar’s biggest assignment came in 1954 when he was supposed to lead the movement in challenging the Supreme Court to enforce a law declaring segregated schools unconstitutional. This case made Medgar angrier than ever because the government authorities in the south refused to enforce the law that had been a landmark ruling in the land of the United States. He chose to engage the authorities directly and sometimes forcefully (Brown 77). Some of his actions never went down well with a part of the leadership of the movement because they were more conservative and did not prefer confrontation with authorities. Some of his activities that were very sensitive included investigating the murder of Emmett Till, a boy who was killed for allegedly disrespecting a white woman by whistling to her.
Medgar finally succeeded in enrolling at the University of Mississippi as the first black student when he worked as an advisor to Meredith James. At one time, he campaigned for boycotting of white merchants who racially discriminated blacks. One of his speeches, separate but equal, was addressed to both blacks and whites. It carried valuable lessons of anti-racism for both groups. Medgar played a pivotal role in the formation and organization of the Jackson Movement in the sixties. His leadership style was aggressive as this movement struggled to end segregation in the populated part of Jackson in the City of Mississippi. The movement that was led by Jackson targeted parks, schools, libraries and recreational areas including movie halls and theatres (Williams 55). Most victims of racial discrimination were African-Americans. The movement employed very different methods to pass its message. They took to sit-ins, mass meetings, economic boycotts, and demonstrations that were peaceful in most cases.
Though some African-Americans including those within the NAACP and Jackson movement saw Medgar’s activities as being antagonistic, he did a lot towards the ending of racism in the U.S. First his actions unified the black community in Mississippi beginning with Jackson residents. He used his charisma to resolve disputes among smaller movements that rivalled each other especially youth groups. He strived to bring on board moderate people who felt that the best solution would be applying diplomacy to raise their grievances and he finally succeeded (Brown 89). He was assassinated on the night of December 12 in nineteen sixty-three after arriving home. His death however, changed the shape of civil rights movements in the U.S. as they became more aggressive. His efforts are enjoyed today which can be seen from the fact that Barrack Obama became the first African-American president in 2008.
Works Cited
Brown, Jennie. MMedgar Evers. Los Angeles: Melrose Square Pub. Co, 1994. Print.
Williams, Michael V. MMedgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2011. Print.