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Medgar Evers
NAACP field secretary & Mississippi civil-rights leader
The organizer who faced Mississippi's terror head-on — and paid with his life.
The rise
A World War II veteran, Evers became Mississippi's first NAACP field secretary, taking on the most violently segregated state in the country.
What they did
He investigated racial killings, organized voter registration and boycotts, and pushed to desegregate the University of Mississippi, becoming a prime target of white-supremacist hatred.
The full picture
He was assassinated in his own driveway in 1963; his killer walked free for three decades before finally being convicted in 1994.
Why it matters
Evers' murder shocked the nation and helped galvanize the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s, making him a martyr of the movement.
“There is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership… This is no time for faint-hearted men…”