Lawmakers want to turn home of civil rights icon Medgar Evers into national monument

Lawmakers want to turn home of civil rights icon into national monument
Story by USA Today
Written by Deborah Barfield Berry

Lawmakers want to turn home of civil rights icon into national monument

WASHINGTON — The Mississippi home of a late civil rights icon took a step closer Tuesday to becoming a national monument.

The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a hearing Tuesday on a bipartisan bill that would designate the Jackson, Miss., home of Medgar Evers as a national monument and put it under the National Park Service.

Evers, a field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP, was killed in his driveway on June 12, 1963. He had been active in registering blacks to vote and challenging segregation in the state.

The National Park Service already maintains several historic civil rights sites.

“What we have here is an opportunity to jump start the designation of the Medgar Wiley Evers home as a national monument,’’ said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who along with Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, co-sponsored the bill. “Everybody agrees it should happen…It’s a natural.’’

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and chairman of the subcommittee, is also a cosponsor.

“Establishing this monument will preserve the home of Medgar Evers, a civil rights icon, and afford American citizens the opportunity to learn about and honor his legacy,” said Katie Schoettler, a spokesperson for the House committee.

Hawaii Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, called Evers the “source of inspiration’’ for others. “This bill is a fitting tribute,’’ she said.

Thompson said the designation would free Tougaloo College, a historically black college, from its role maintaining the site. Tougaloo has been operating the home as a museum open by appointment only.

Thompson said he was inspired by Evers’ work.

“Medgar Evers had a vision to defeat injustice for African Americans in the state of Mississippi as well as throughout the United States,’’ he said.

If the Congress eventually passes the bill and it crosses President Trump's desk, Trump may be inclined to sign it. The president focused on Evers while speaking at last month's opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, calling the late civil rights icon a hero.

"Medgar Evers loved his family, his community, and his country," Trump said. "And he knew it was long past time for his nation to fulfill its founding promise: to treat every citizen as an equal child of God."

Thompson and other civil rights activists boycotted that ceremony because Trump was invited. They plan to attend a gala held at the museum later this month.