1963 - Medgar W. Evers assissinated.

On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers, a field secretary for the NAACP, had long been targeted for his work organizing voter registration drives, boycotts, and investigations into racial violence. His killer, white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, was not convicted until 1994, despite overwhelming evidence. Evers\’ death, just hours after President Kennedy’s civil rights speech, shocked the nation and fueled momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His murder exposed the deadly consequences of racial hatred in the Deep South and galvanized public support for justice. Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, a recognition of both his service in World War II and his sacrifice in the struggle for civil rights at home.