Thomas O. Edwards, acting chair of the social science division at Medgar Evers College, introduces a conference that emphasizes the contributions of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., and Marcus Garvey by examining the work of these influential five men and their efforts towards advancing persons of African ancestry and the pursuit in social justice.

first presentation: “Medgar”

Speaker Mr. Walter Mosley gives a brief synopsis of the life and accomplishments of civil rights Activist and field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Mr. Medgar Wiley Evers.

Through Medgar’s writings and personal reflections, Mr. Mosley reflects on the motivations and challenges Medgar faced in organizing the Regional Council of Negro Leadership’s boycott of gasoline stations that denied the use of the stations’ restrooms in Mound Bayou, Mississippi to African-Americans.

Throughout his career, Mr. Evers pushed to gain admission for African-Americans to the state-supported public University of Mississippi. Medgar Evers also worked on voting rights and registration, economic opportunity,  and other changes in American segregated society.

After multiple assassination attempts throughout his life, Medgar Evers was fatally shot outside of his home in the early morning of June 12, 1963.