Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925June 12, 1963) was an American
civil rights activist from Mississippi who worked to overturn segregation at the
University of Mississippi and gain social justice and voting rights. A World War II veteran and college graduate, he became active in the
Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. He became a field secretary for the
NAACP. Following the 1954 ruling of the United States Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers worked to gain admission for African Americans to the state-supported public University of Mississippi. He also worked on voting rights and registration, economic opportunity, access to public facilities, and other changes in the segregated society.