Existing comment:
Roy Wilkins (1901–1981), Born St. Louis, Missouri
Medgar Evers (1925–1963), Born Decatur, Mississippi
Medgar Evers (center right) played a critical role in organizing and sustaining the Jackson Movement--a multifaceted campaign to end segregation in Mississippi's most populous city. In the spring of 1963, Evers launched a boycott of stores in Jackson's main shopping district after the mayor rejected an NAACP-sponsored resolution calling for fair hiring practices in municipal jobs, desegregation of public facilities and accommodations, an end to discriminatory business practices, and the establishment of a biracial committee to combat injustice and promote reform. When NAACP national secretary Roy Wilkins (center left) joined Evers in picketing the F. W. Woolworth store in downtown Jackson, local police brandishing electric cattle prods swiftly arrested both men. This press photograph documenting the arrest appeared in the New York Times on June 2, 1963--just ten days before a white supremacist assassinated Evers.
Unidentified photographer, 1963 |