Beckwith convicted of killing Medgar Evers 1994
On this day in 1994, white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith is
convicted in the murder of African-American civil rights leader Medgar
Evers, over 30 years after the crime occurred. Evers was gunned down in
the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi, home on June 12, 1963, while
his wife, Myrlie, and the couple’s three small children were inside.
Medgar Wiley Evers was born July 2, 1925, near Decatur, Mississippi,
and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After fighting for his
country, he returned home to experience discrimination in the racially
divided South, with its separate public facilities and services for
blacks and whites. Evers graduated from Alcorn College in 1952 and began
organizing local chapters of the NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People). In 1954, after being rejected for
admission to then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School, he
became part of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school. Later that
year, Evers was named the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi.
He moved with his family to Jackson and worked to dismantle segregation,
leading peaceful rallies, economic boycotts and voter registration
drives around the state. In 1962, he helped James Meredith become the
first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, a
watershed event in the civil rights movement. As a result of his work,
Evers received numerous threats and several attempts were made on his
life before he was murdered in 1963 at the age of 37.
Beckwith, a fertilizer salesman and Ku Klux Klan member widely
believed to be the killer, was prosecuted for murder in 1964. However,
two all-white (and all-male) juries deadlocked and refused to convict
him. A second trial held in the same year resulted in a hung jury. The
matter was dropped when it appeared that a conviction would be
impossible. Myrlie Evers, who later became the first woman to chair the
NAACP, refused to give up, pressing authorities to re-open the case. In
1989, documents came to light showing that jurors in the case were
illegally screened.
Prosecutor Bobby DeLaughter worked with Myrlie Evers to force another
prosecution of Beckwith. After four years of legal maneuvering, they
were finally successful. At the third trial they produced a riflescope
from the murder weapon with Beckwith’s fingerprints, as well as new
witnesses who testified that Beckwith had bragged about committing the
crime. Justice was finally achieved when Beckwith was convicted and
given a life sentence by a racially diverse jury in 1994. He died in
prison in 2001 at the age of 80.
(More Events on This Day in History)
-
American Revolution
- 1777 Georgia constitution abolishes primogeniture and entail
-
Automotive
- 1878 The “French Henry Ford” born
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Civil War
- 1865 Battle of Dabney’s Mill (Hatcher’s Run)
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Cold War
- 1989 The last Soviet troops leave Kabul
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Crime
- 1994 Medger Evers’ killer is convicted
- 2012 Husband of missing Utah woman kills self and two young sons
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Disaster
- 1783 Earthquake devastates southern Italy
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General Interest
- 1631 Roger Williams arrives in America
- 1917 Immigration act passed over Wilson’s veto
- 1917 Mexican constitution proclaimed
- 1937 Roosevelt announces “court-packing” plan
- 1988 Noriega indicted on U.S. drug charges
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Hollywood
- 1919 United Artists created
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Literary
- 1928 Andrew Greeley is born
-
Music
- 1957 The American Invasion begins, as Bill Haley and the Comets storm Britain
-
Old West
- 1883 Southern Pacific Railroad completes “Sunset Route”
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Presidential
- 1826 Millard Fillmore marries Abigail Powers
-
Sports
- 1934 Hank Aaron is born
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Vietnam War
- 1960 South Vietnam requests more support
- 1975 North Vietnamese begin preparations for offensive
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World War I
- 1918 U.S. steamship Tuscania is torpedoed and sinks
-
World War II
- 1941 Hitler to Mussolini: Fight harder!
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