Southwestern Athletic Conference

LORMAN, Miss.- Alcorn State University, President Dr. M. Christopher Brown, II, community members, and dignitaries gathered on campus to commemorate famed alumnus, Medgar Wiley Evers, with the unveiling of a statue of the civil rights activist.

The dedication follows the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

In an article published on HBCUConnect.com, Dr. Brown stated, “Alcorn State is proud to honor the courage and leadership of Medgar Evers, our esteemed alumnus, national hero and distinguished Mississippian. His legacy inspires the world and particularly students, in their pursuit of knowledge and character to make the world a better place.”

Evers was involved in several efforts to overturn segregation in the State of Mississippi.

He enrolled at Alcorn A&M College (now Alcorn State University) where he excelled in the classroom as well as athletics. As a student, he was a member of the debate team, and was an All-American football player.

The dedication ceremony featured notable figures including: his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, keynote speaker Tavis Smiley, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Toyota Motor Managing Director Derrick Sims, Senator John Horhn, and Evers' brother Charles Evers were also in attendance. The Medgar Evers Torch of Justice Awards Luncheon preceded the dedication with performances by Lalah Hathaway.

The statue, made entirely of bronze, stands 13 feet tall and weighs more than 2,300 pounds. It was designed and sculpted by nationally acclaimed sculptor Ed Dwight. It is the newest highlight on the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail.

“I met Medgar my first day as a freshman right here on Alcorn State’s campus,” Evers' widow, Mrs. Myrlie Evers-Williams, addded in an article on HBCUConnect. “How ironic and fitting it is that current and future generations will forever see him, if you will, and get to know him at the same place that I did. I am personally moved and I am thrilled about this memorial.”

Evers became one of the most visible and respected leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement. His assassination on June 12, 1963, is considered the major motivation for President John F. Kennedy to ask Congress to immediately pass comprehensive civil rights legislation which ultimately became the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ironically, Kennedy would not sign this bill into law, because he too, would fall victim to an assassin’s bullet just five months after Medgar in 1963.

An earlier statue in Jackson, Miss. stands in front of a city library and Mississippi College located in Evers' former neighborhood on the street renamed after him.

He has been publically honored in many ways. Post office buildings, a public library, major thoroughfares, the Jackson international airport and Medgar Evers College, part of the City College of New York system all bear his name. In 2011, the U.S. Navy christened a humanitarian mission ship the USNS Medgar Evers, the first vessel ever to bear the name of a civil rights activist.

The statue at Alcorn State is the largest known to be commissioned and created to honor Medgar Wiley Evers.