5. On the night of June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers, head of the Mississippi NAACP, pulled his car into his driveway. After emerging from his car, Evers was shot in the back and died from his injuries. Who was ultimately found to be the assailant?
From Quiz Notorious Civil Rights Crimes in Mississippi
Answer:
Byron De La Beckwith
After Medgar Evers was murdered, there was much speculation about who his killer was. In 1964, Byron De La Beckwith, a self-confessed member of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens' Council, was arrested for the assassination of Medgar Evers. After two subsequent trials, the juries (both of which consisted entirely of white males) were deadlocked on a verdict. The verdicts sent an uproar through not just the African-American community, but through America as a whole. Finally, in 1994, lawyer Bobby DeLaughter decided to reopen the Medgar Evers case, based on new information he had collected. After a heated trial, the jury convicted the elderly Beckwith of the murder, and he was sentenced life imprisonment. After several unsuccessful appeals, Beckwith died in prison in January 2001. If you ever get the chance, watch the movie about the 1994 trial, "Ghosts of Mississippi" starring Alec Baldwin as Bobby DeLaughter, Whoopi Goldberg as Mrs. Evers, and James Woods as Byron De La Beckwith. I highly reccomend it.