June
11, 1963
Assassination of Medgar Evers 
NAACP State Director Medgar Evers was gunned down in his driveway by rifle-wielding White Citizens Council member Byron De La Beckwith. J.P. Miller, a civil rights activist and NAACP member from Sunflower County, described Evers as "a real energetic fellow. His energy seemed to be limitless when it came down to human rights. He was ready to go and stand up for what was right. And he was a good family man. It's too bad he had to die so young like that, but doing it for the cause of good. That somebody would ambush him like that" is almost inconceivable.
Paul B. Johnson Collection, McCain Library and Archives, University of Southern Mississippi.
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And then Charles, after Medgar was killed and Charles came, he was more of an activist. He just went out after it full force. And I remember when I first went to Fayette. I went to Fayette with Charles one time and he was just you know, talking about white folks like they had two tails, in a little country place where white folks looked like they wanted to eat black folk, you know. I think he did an excellent job. He fulfilled the time in which he was field secretary and got a lot done. A lot of voter registration boomed and everything, when Charles came in because he was just an activist. He just went out at it. Didn't look like he was afraid of anything.– Johnny Barbour, coordinator for the NAACP in Meridian as well as the NAACP coordinator for voter registration and education for the state of Mississippi.