1963 – Medgar Evers Testifies Before Congress

On May 15, 1963, Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, delivered powerful testimony before a U.S. congressional committee on voter suppression. Evers detailed how Black citizens were systematically denied the right to vote through literacy tests, economic threats, and violence. At a time when the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, his testimony brought national attention to Mississippi’s brutal Jim Crow laws. Just weeks later, Evers would be assassinated, making this moment one of his final public appeals. His appearance before Congress highlighted the federal government’s complicity through inaction and played a role in the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Evers’ courage and clarity left an indelible mark, as his words helped push voting rights into the national conscience and reinforced the urgency of legislative change.