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Medgar Evers
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African-American civil rights activist (1925-1963)
OverviewAI-generated
Medgar Evers was an American politician and human rights defender. He was a member of the NAACP and served in the United States Army during World War II. Evers was educated at Alcorn State University and the University of Mississippi School of Law. He was recognized in the Presidential Medal of Freedom collection.
Born in Decatur in 1925, Evers died in Jackson in 1963 as a result of homicide. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was married to Myrlie Evers-Williams and had three children. His sibling was Charles Evers. He spoke English and was of the African American ethnic group.
Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- Medgar Wiley Evers , ( 1925-07-02 ) July 2, 1925, Decatur, Mississippi , U.S.
- Died
- June 12, 1963 (1963-06-12) (aged 37), Jackson, Mississippi , U.S.
- Cause of death
- Assassination by gunshot
- Burial place
- Arlington National Cemetery (with full military honors )
- Education
- Alcorn State University ( BA )
- Occupation
- Civil rights activist
- Spouse
- Myrlie Beasley ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1951 )
- Relatives
- Charles Evers (brother)
- Allegiance
- United States
- Branch
- United States Army
- Service years
- 1943–1946
- Rank
- Technician fifth grade
- Unit
- 657th Port Company
- Conflicts
- World War II Western Front Normandy landings
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Decatur
- Place of death
- Jackson
- Spouse
- Myrlie Evers-Williams
- Sibling
- Charles Evers
- Occupation
- human rights defender
- Educated at
- University of Mississippi School of Law
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military branch
- United States Army
- Image
- Medgar Evers in uniform.jpg
- Number of children
- 3
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Medgar Evers
- date of birth
- 1925-07-02
- date of death
- 1963-06-12
- manner of death
- homicide
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- member of
- NAACP
- place of burial
- Arlington National Cemetery
- name in native language
- Medgar Evers
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~28 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Medgar Wiley Evers (/ˈmɛdɡər/; July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist who was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi. A United States Army veteran who served in World War II, he was engaged in efforts to overturn racial segregation at the University of Mississippi, end the segregation of public facilities, and expand opportunities for African Americans, including the enforcement of voting rights prior to his assassination.
After college, Evers became active in the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Following the 1954 ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, he challenged the segregation of the state-supported public University of Mississippi. Evers applied to law school there, as the state had no public law school for African Americans. He also worked for voting rights, economic opportunity, access to public facilities, and other changes in the segregated society. In 1963, Evers was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Medgar Evers” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.