"Medgar Evers - An Unsung Hero"
I'm writing this tribute about Medgar Evers on the 50th anniversary of his death, June 12, 2013. People who know of Evers, and there are many who don't, mostly know about him because he was a civil rights leader who paid the ultimate price for the cause. Ask someone about Evers and they might be able to tell you that he was the Black civil rights leader who was assassinated in Mississippi, but few will be able to tell you about the works and deeds of his life. He's become a symbol, a man more revered for his death than his life's work.
I've been meaning to write a blog about Medgar Evers since November 19, 2011. On that day, Van Evers, Medgar's youngest son, told me why his oldest son had to miss a club soccer game on November 12, 2011 for the team that both of our sons played on. On 11/12/11 the Evers family was in San Diego, CA christening the 689-foot USNS Medgar Evers, a $500 million dry cargo ship that was named in Medgar's honor. Before that November day, I had never made the connection that Van was Medgar's son. I had coached his youngest son in track and field and had met his mother, Myrlie, at a club soccer game a month or two before the christening of the ship.
A year and a half later I'm writing this blog to highlight a documentary on Medgar Evers, "An Unsung Hero," that was produced by the creators of the Mad Men television series. A couple of months ago I decided to watch every episode of Mad Men that had ever been produced. I love the Extra sections of DVD releases and I luckily stumbled upon a 2-part series on Evers' life in the Season 3 series of Mad Men that is as good a documentary on an individual that I have ever seen. It gets my highest recommendation. Hope you enjoy learning about the life and significance of Medgar Evers' life:
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