African Americans At Normandy (D-Day): Medgar Evers

Last week, The Raleigh News and Observer printed an article about African Americans at D-Day.

The article did not mention it, but one of the African Americans fighting for the allies at D-Day was the late Medgar Wiley Evers, a civil rights activist in Mississippi who was assassinated on June 12, 1963 by Byron De La Beckwith of Greenwood.

After World War II, Evers received a degree from Alcorn State College near Jackson, and became the state's first NAACP field secretary.

Beckwith was also a World War II veteran, having served on Guadalcanal. He belonged to both the Klan and the White Citizen's Council.

After three trials, Beckwith was finally convicted of Medgar Evers' murder in a state trial in 1994. He died in prison.