The daughters of slain civil rights icons Malcolm X and Medgar Evers say theirs is a club “no one would want to join.”
Reena Evers-Everette was 8 on June 12, 1963, when a sniper’s bullet felled her father, Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers, in the driveway of their Jackson home. Ilyasah Shabazz was 3 on Feb. 19, 1965, when her father was assassinated in the ballroom of a New York City hotel. A speaking engagement at JSU in February brought the two together publicly for the first time. It marked the first visit to Jackson for Shabazz. During the trip, the women visited Evers’ childhood home in Jackson. Built in 1957, the home was rededicated in 2013 as a small museum preserving the memory of the civil rights leader.
Tougaloo College operates the Medgar Evers museum. Tours by appointment: (601) 977-7706 or (601) 977-7839 or email mwatson@ tougaloo.edu. To take a virtual tour, visit Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s website: www.everstribute.org/house_tour.php.
