Clarion-Ledger, Jackson
Evers home first Mississippi civil rights site declared landmark
By Jerry Mitchell
The house where Medgar and Myrlie Evers lived with their family will receive a plaque Thursday recognizing its National Historic Landmark Designation.
The Medgar and Myrlie Evers House is the first Mississippi site from the modern civil rights movement to receive the national landmark designation.
“It’s important for the world to understand the pain and joy that is associated with this home,” said Reena Evers-Everette, the daughter of Medgar and Myrlie Evers.
Evers-Everette, executive director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, praised the preservation of the family home and its new designation. “It’s extremely important for our future to know and understand our past,” she said, “and it’s critical to know the truth.”
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson successfully sponsored a bill in the House that would also make the home a National Monument, placing it under the National Park Service.
“I, like many others, have always been inspired by the magnitude of determination Mr. Evers showed by dedicating himself to others and fighting against adversity,” Thompson said Tuesday. “The designation of his home is an everlasting tribute to his legacy. I am honored to have authored this legislation, that passed the U.S. House, to honor the sacrifice of not only Mr. Evers but also his widow, Myrlie.”
This week, Mississippi's U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith introduced a companion bill in the Senate, which is being co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Doug Jones from Alabama.
“I have worked with my colleagues in the Mississippi congressional delegation for many years to bring additional resources and visibility to the Medgar Evers home. These efforts are important to honor the life and legacy of Medgar Evers,” Wicker said in a statement. “Making this site a national monument would further underscore the historic significance of the civil rights movement in Mississippi. It is a powerful point of interest for visitors and residents alike.”
Hyde-Smith said, “The designation of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home as a national monument will help ensure the preservation of an important and tragic civil rights site. I’m pleased this is a bipartisan effort, which also has support within the Trump administration."
When President Trump visited the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History, he called Medgar Evers a national hero.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended several sites for national monuments, including the Evers family home.
Tougaloo College maintains the home, and visits there are by appointment only.
The Evers’ home at 2332 Margaret Walker Alexander Drive in Jackson is located in one of the city’s first subdivisions for African-American professionals.
In 1954, the couple moved to Jackson after Medgar Evers took the job as field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP. Myrlie Evers worked alongside him in the office as well as taking care of their three children.
Two years later, the couple built the ranch-style home, which had a unique feature that made it different from other homes on the street — it lacked a front door, which Medgar Evers believed would make the family less of a target.
He trained the children on how to drop to the floor, how to tell gunfire from a car backfiring and where to go if gunfire erupted. The children agreed that the safest place was the bathtub.
In the years that followed, Medgar Evers put more than 40,000 miles a year on his Oldsmobile driving across Mississippi, registering African-Americans to vote, documenting violence and building up NAACP branches.
Weeks after he went on television in spring 1963, decrying segregation, he was gunned down in the driveway of the family’s home after midnight on June 12, 1963.
After his death, the walls of segregation began to break down, and Jackson leaders hired their first black police officers and school crossing guards.
For Myrlie Evers, memories of her husband’s killing overwhelmed her, and she and her children moved to California. She rented out the home, but never sold it.
In 1993, she donated the house to Tougaloo College, which has maintained the home since.
A year later, she saw the conviction of her husband’s killer, who was sentenced to life in prison, where he died.
In 1995, she became chairman of the national NAACP board, restoring confidence and financial stability to the civil rights organization.
With the help of grants and support, the Evers home now looks much as it did in 1963. The 1996 film, “Ghosts of Mississippi,” was filmed there, and filmmakers donated the furnishings used in the movie.
The home also includes a small museum on Medgar Evers, which Tougaloo officials describe as “a celebration of the man he was and a memorial to the martyr he became. It is a place for learning and teaching — to use the lessons of history to continue to forge a more perfect union — to fulfill our dreams and the promises that all humankind will share the bounties of God’s earth, be free and live in peace.”