Medgar Evers was a black leader for the N.A.A.C.P. I admire him because he fought for our rights. He tried to give us the right to vote. He used non-violence because if he did try to fight he would have gotten hurt badly.

When Medgar Evers was young he lost a family friend who was lynched by a white mob. Medgar Evers could not go to the all white school. He was sent to law shool. Medgar Evers particpated in the World War ll. After the war he became the first N.A.A.C.P. Field Secretary for Mississippi, and he spent much of his time investigating racial killings. Medgar Evers became a known black leader in Jackson, Mississippi. He began to work to change the lives of blacks in Mississippi. He opened the state NAACP office on Farish Street in Jackson. Medgar Evers was a good man. He applied for admission to the school of Law at the University of Mississippi.

In 1963 Evers was living in Jackson. He was leading a drive for employment and integration against stubborn city goverment. After that Evers sent black demmands to Mayor Allen C. Thompson. He got the letter and he gave a speech on television. "You live in a beatiful city," he said, "where you can work, where you can make a comfortable living.... do not listen to rumors which will stir you, worry you and upset you."

Medgar was angry and other blacks were too. And then Medgar Evers gave a speech. He said, "History has reached a turning point, here and over the world... Tonight the negro knows... about the new free nation in Africa and knows that a Congo native can be a locomotive engineer, but in Jackson he cannot even drive a garbage truck..."

That speech made the racist people mad at Medgar Evers. A week after that as he was going home, a molotov cocktail was thrown in his house.

On June 12,1963 President Kennedy delivered his strongest message ever on civil rights. On that night Evers was shot in the back by Byron De La Beckwith. After he was shot he dragged himself to the front door and his wife and children saw him and the ambulance arrived. He died 50 minutes later that same night. Medgar Evers was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on June 19, 1963. They probably wanted to kill Medgar Evers because he was part of the N.A.A.C.P.

by Jonathan Dennis