Byron De La Beckwith Convicted in Medgar Evers Murder

Summary

On February 5, 1994, a Mississippi jury convicted white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith of the 1963 assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Evers, the NAACP's field secretary in Mississippi, had been shot in the back outside his Jackson home while his family watched from inside. De La Beckwith, a segregationist with ties to white supremacist groups, was tried twice in the 1960s but escaped conviction due to hung juries. New evidence and a changed political climate led to his retrial decades later. The verdict came after Evers' widow Myrlie Evers worked tirelessly for justice.

Why It Matters

The 1994 conviction symbolized accountability for civil rights-era violence and demonstrated that delayed justice remained possible through renewed investigations. It reinforced the legacy of Medgar Evers' activism against segregation and voter suppression. The case highlighted persistent efforts to confront America's racial history and influenced other cold case prosecutions from the era.

Sources

1. White supremacist convicted of killing Medgar Evers, HISTORY.com. Accessed 2026-07-08.