Evers, a United States Army veteran who served in World War II , 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 when he was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith.
After college, Evers became active in the civil rights movement in the s. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers challenged the segregation of the state-supported public University of Mississippi. He 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.
His murder and the resulting trials inspired civil rights protests. His life and death have inspired numerous works of art, music, and film.
Although all-white juries failed to reach verdicts in the first two trials of De La Beckwith in the s, he was convicted in based on new evidence. In , after passage of civil rights legislation and the Voting Rights Act of , Medgar's brother Charles Evers was elected as mayor of Fayette, Mississippi.
He was the first African American to be elected mayor of a Mississippi city in the post-Reconstruction era. In , Evers enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 17; he was prompted to do so by the racism he experienced at home and Charles' prior enlistment in the Army. Evers served in the th Port Company , a segregated unit of the Army's Transportation Corps , participating in the Normandy landings on June In France, Evers' unit was part of the Red Ball Express , which delivered supplies to Allied troops fighting on the frontlines.
