Museum Entrance Childhood Court Cases Fun Facts Death Welcome to the Medgar Evers National Museum Curator’s Offices Memorial Sources

Curator’s Office Matt Smith (left) David Tennant (right) Dylan and Noah are best friends/brothers. We enjoy working together and this image is definitely absolutely indeed Dyl and I. Dyl is on the left. I am on the right. Dylan Bricker and Noah Ahmed Place your picture here. Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Dr. Christy Keeler. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.Keith Valley Middle SchoolDr. Christy KeelerEducational Virtual Museums Return to Entry

Room 1 Return to Entry Artifact 2Childhood Artifact 3

Room 2 Return to Entry The Emmet Till Murder Case

Room 3 Return to Entry Artifact 9 Artifact 10Death Artifact 11 Artifact 12

Room 4 Return to Entry Artifact 14 “Fun” Facts

Room 5 Return to Entry Artifact 18Memorial

Linked citation goes here Born in Decatur, Mississippi in 1925, Medgar Wiley Evers was a Civil Rights activist that was the person who helped inspire the fight for equality in America. Although not many understand his importance, his actions were decisive in the struggle that eventually dictated the future for not only America, but the world. Return to Exhibit Medgar Wiley Evers

Linked citation goes here When Evers was a child, he had to experience the average racism of the mid-1900’s. This, he didn’t mind too much. Although his family tried to protect him from the terrible things that White Supremacists did to people, he was bound to see what people will do to protect their way of life. When he was walking to school one day, somebody accused of disrespecting a white woman. Later, his friend was dragged behind a car and then lynched. According to Evers, the body and clothes of this boy had stayed on the tree for about 3 months. No Image Could Be Found of Evers’ Friend. Return to Exhibit Childhood

Memorial Medgar Evers may not seem like he was too important in the battle for Civil Rights simply because he wasn’t as glorified as MLK or Rosa Parks. But even today, without Medgar Evers, the world as you know it would be very different.

Linked citation goes here In August 1955, Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi. He was at a meat market shopping and whistled at a white woman. Several days later on August 28 th Till was kidnapped. He was then beaten to a pulp, shot and dumped into the Tallahatchie River. He was very difficult to identify, and Roy Bryant and his half brother were arrested for the murder. The all white jury in Sumter, Mississippi only took an hour to find the murderers innocent. Medgar Evers, had persuaded the NAACP leaders to get involved in the case. They had black witnesses come forward to tell the truth. Although it may not have changed the jury’s biased decision, it was one of the events that awakened the African American population to activism in the Civil Rights movement. Had Evers not decided that he would take it upon himself to get involved in this case, the Civil Rights movement either could have been delayed for years on end or never happened at all. Return to Exhibit Emmet Till Case

Linked citation goes here Medgar Evers died in front of his house, a very tragic and sad death. Evers had just got out of his car back from a NAACP meeting for non-segregation. White supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was waiting for Medgar Evers to exit his vehicle to shoot him. Once Evers was near his house he was shot in the back by De La Beckwith only yards away from the front door. At the trial Beckwith was found innocent by an all white jury. Thirty years later the case was reopened and he was found guilty by a racially mixed jury. He was convicted to life in prison. Return to Exhibit Assassination

Linked citation goes here Minutes before Evers was assassinated, John F. Kennedy had given a speech about Civil Rights. This was the turning point in the Civil Rights Movement where Kennedy asked all Americans to inspect their actions against African Americans. It is a depressing form of irony that Evers was murdered just minutes later by De La Beckwith. Return to Exhibit John F. Kennedy’s speech

Linked citation goes here Before the death of Evers, Medgar Evers had suffered many attempts on his life; many of these attempts were related to Evers’ vocal support of Clyde Kennard. Kennard tried very hard to desegregate higher education, such as colleges in Mississippi. He applied for Mississippi Southern University. A former FBI Agent attempted to sabotage his application by finding reasons for his denial to the school. This proved to be unyieldingly problematic because most of Kennard’s history was flawless. Evers was highly supportive of his attempts and vocalized this. Seeing as how white supremacists didn’t like Kennard, Evers’ began to gain the hatred of the white supremacists for the promoting of Kennard’s ideals. Return to Exhibit Clyde Kennard

Linked citation goes here Did you know that the KKK bombed the house of Medgar Evers? Return to Exhibit Did You Know That…

Linked citation goes here Return to Exhibit Sources History.com/news/7-things-you-should-know-about-medgar-evers Infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice.html Geoffrey-pope.tripod.com/lifeanddeathofmedgarevers/idl.html Mshistory.mdah.state.ms.edu Britannica.com/ebchecked/topic/ /medgar-evers Naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-medgar-evers Millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3375