While studying at the University of Washington, the writer was pleasantly surprised to walk past a public swimming pool named in honor of Medgar Wiley Evers. In less than a year later, he was again pleased when he heard the news that Medgar Evers College was the name given to a branch of the City University of New York (CUNY).
The thought then occurred that Medgar Evers had long been too underestimated as a civil rights leader; that he had been too little appreciated as a martyr to the cause of human rights and racial justice. The saying also came to mind that a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown.
The second thought soon began to vanish, however, as in quick succession people like Bennie G. Thompson and Henry Kirksey moved to have the main post office in Jackson named after Evers; people like Rev. Emmett C. Burns Jr., Jim Evans, Mrs. Ineva May Pittman, and Rev. L.D. Bass moved to have Jackson’s international airport named after Evers; and people like Kenneth I. Stokes and Charles W. Tisdale moved to have Delta Drive named Medgar Evers Boulevard. Alcorn State University and the town of Decatur also got in on the act, as the Civil Rights Trail Marker Campaign began…