Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist who worked closely with well known leaders during the early Civil Rights movement. He was Mississippi's field secretary for the NAACP, and was also a World War II veteran, fighting in the Battle of Normandy.

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He was the third of five children, and he and his siblings walked 12 miles per day to attend a rural segregated school. Later, he would lead the efforts to successfully desegregate the University of Mississippi. 

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Medgar was assassinated 1963, due in large part to the inaction of local police. 

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Medgar and his wife, Myrlie Beasly, had three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers. 

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