Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers, 1900-1994 [manuscript]

Original telegrams in box 17 and newsclippings in boxes 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23 Restricted; reference photocopies must be used instead.

Electronic resources Access limited to Winter Building media reading room computers.

No analog or digital photography. See curator for reproduction requests.

This collection currently includes Evers and Beasley family papers dating from the early 1900s to around July 1964, when Myrlie Evers and her children moved to Claremont, California. It is divided into the following subgroups: papers of Medgar Evers as Mississippi field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; family papers of Medgar Evers; papers of Myrlie Evers; and records relating to the case of the State of Mississippi v. Byron de la Beckwith. Medgar Evers's papers as Mississippi field secretary of the NAACP consist of minutes, correspondence, correspondence registers, telegrams, speeches, annual reports, monthly reports, financial records, petitions, photographs, programs, news releases, newsletters, newsclippings, subject files, and posters. These files document the tenure of Evers as NAACP field secretary in Mississippi from 1954 until his death on June 12, 1963. They provide evidence of the leadership Evers offered to African-Americans in their struggle for civil rights and racial equality in a segregated Mississippi. These files also reveal how closely Evers worked with national, state, and local NAACP leaders to facilitate organizational goals in Mississippi during the early years of the civil-rights movement. The family papers of Medgar Evers include business and personal correspondence, postcards, funeral records, a memorial file, financial records, personal records, travel records, a certificate, a program, publications, photographs, negatives, Christmas cards, and audio recordings. This group of personal papers reflects the activities and interests of Medgar Evers; his wife, Myrlie Evers; their children, Darrell Kenyatta Evers, Reena Denise Evers, and James Van Dyke Evers; as well as other Evers or Beasley family members living in Decatur, Jackson, or Vicksburg, Mississippi, from the early 1900s to the early 1960s.

Myrlie Evers's papers consist of business and personal correspondence, greeting cards, sympathy correspondence, sympathy cards, sympathy telegrams, press-service clippings, news clippings, speeches, financial records, travel records, school papers, programs, lyrics and musical scores, and publications. These papers mainly concern the efforts of Evers to rebuild her life after the murder of Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963. Especially poignant are the letters, cards, and telegrams expressing condolences upon the death of her husband, which were sent by individuals throughout the world up until the time Evers moved to Claremont, California, in 1964. Also documented is Evers's sustained involvement in the NAACP and the role she played in honoring her husband's memory and his civil-rights legacy. The records relating to the case of the State of Mississippi v. Byron de la Beckwith (1964) include photocopies of criminal-offense reports, witness files, subpoenas, evidence files, motions and orders, and a memorandum book. The records pertaining to the case of the State of Mississippi v. Byron de la Beckwith (1994) include photocopies of court-case files, pleadings, a security consultant's report, and a Ku Klux Klan-related file. There are also digital photoprints of scenes from the 1994 Byron de la Beckwith trial. This material was apparently assembled by Myrlie Evers for reference purposes around the time of the 1994 trial.

Cite as: Z/2231.0000: Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers.

JPEG and PDF files, Mississippi Department of Archives and History. [2015]. Original photographs and documents were scanned as TIFF files and saved as JPEG and PDF files.

Mode of access: MDAH Intranet browser with PDF plug-in.

Medgar Wiley Evers was born near Decatur, Newton County, Mississippi, on July 2, 1925. He was the son of James and Jessie Evers of Newton County. The couple had five other children: Charles, Elizabeth, Eva Lee, Gene, and Mary Ruth. Evers attended elementary school in Decatur and high school in nearby Newton. In 1943, he left the eleventh grade to enlist in a segregated port battalion of the United States Army, which was later deployed to England, France, and Belgium during World War II. Between 1946 and 1948, Evers completed his secondary education at a laboratory high school affiliated with Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, Lorman, Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1948, Evers enrolled at Alcorn where he was active in campus activities and sports. He married classmate Myrlie Louise Beasley of Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, on December 24, 1951. Evers graduated from Alcorn with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1952. Soon after graduation, Evers and his wife, Myrlie, moved to Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi. There, he worked as an agent for the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. While living in Mound Bayou, Evers organized branches of the NAACP in the Delta and began recruiting new members. Evers applied for admission to the law school of the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Lafayette County, in 1954, but his application was denied. In December 1954, Medgar Evers became Mississippi field secretary of the NAACP. Evers joined the New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson in 1956. He bought a new home on Guynes Street (now Margaret Walker Alexander Drive) in Jackson in 1957. Upon the invitation of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Evers attended the first meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1957. Evers was elected as secretary of the SCLC but was unable to serve because of conflict-of-interest issues with the NAACP.

In 1961, Medgar Evers, Aaron Henry, and others established the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). Evers was cited for contempt of court in 1960 for publicly denouncing as a mockery of justice the trial, conviction, and sentence of Clyde Kennard. By the early 1960s, Evers was promoting acts of passive resistance by African-Americans to hasten the end of segregation in Mississippi. By May 1963, the NAACP was demanding that Jackson mayor Allen Thompson hire black workers, integrate public facilities, and remove white-only signs from public buildings. After Thompson rejected the demands of the NAACP, Evers filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission in order to receive equal airtime on a local television station. He called for a community-wide boycott of white-owned businesses in Jackson. An unknown arsonist firebombed the Evers home in late May 1963, but no family members were injured. Evers and several hundred demonstrators continued the picketing of white-owned businesses in Jackson, although many were arrested. Early in the morning of June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was assassinated by white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith of Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi. The NAACP posthumously awarded Evers its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, on July 4, 1963. It was accepted on his behalf by Myrlie Evers.

Myrlie Louise Beasley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on March 17, 1933. She was the daughter of James Van Dyke and Mildred Washington Beasley. Myrlie Louise Beasley graduated from Magnolia High School (Bowman High School) in Vicksburg in 1950. She was also a member of the Chansonettes, a girls' vocal group from Mount Heroden Baptist Church in Vicksburg, during her high-school years. In 1950, Myrlie Beasley enrolled at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Lorman, Mississippi. There, she majored in education, minored in music, and was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority before marrying classmate Medgar Evers in 1951. Leaving Alcorn after her sophomore year in 1952, Myrlie Evers moved with her husband to Mound Bayou where she worked as a secretary with the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Her son, Darrell Kenyatta Evers (b. 1953), and her daughter, Reena Denise Evers (b. 1954), were born in Mound Bayou. Myrlie Evers accompanied her husband to Jackson after he was appointed Mississippi field secretary of the NAACP in 1954. She was also hired by the NAACP as the secretary of Medgar Evers. During this time, Myrlie Evers balanced the responsibilities of her NAACP job with the demands of caring for a growing family, including a second son, James Van Dyke (b. 1960). Following the assassination of Medgar Evers, Myrlie, Darrell, and Reena Evers met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House on June 20, 1963. In July 1964, Myrlie Evers and her three children moved to Claremont, California. There, she enrolled at Pomona College and majored in sociology.