Mississippi Home To A New National Historic Landmark

JACKSON (WCBI) – A Mississippi home tied to the Civil Rights Movement is now a National Historic Landmark.  The Department of Interior Wednesday unveiled 21 new sites including Medgar Evers Jackson home.

The assassination of Evers on June 12, 1963, in the carport of the  Evers House in Jackson became one of the catalysts for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His assassination also forced Myrlie Evers into a more prominent role for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Both Medgar and Myrlie were major contributors to advancing the goals of the civil rights movement on a national level. Medgar Evers was the first nationally significant civil rights leader to be murdered.