So, if you read my title, you know we are randomly going to have a social studies blog. If you didn't read my title, well now you know! Anyways, have you ever wanted something so bad that you would do whatever you can to get it? Well every African American during the mid 1900s did. As you guys know, we have a whole month dedicated to black history. It's called, you guessed it, Black History Month. One person who had a big role in the Civil Rights Movement was Medgar Evers. Isn't it that an awesome name?! Well this guy had a big impact on civil rights, even if you probably haven't heard about him.
Medgar Wiley Evers was born on July 2, 1925 in Mississippi. He went to the Alcorn College and was on the debate team, choir, track team, football team. He was even on the "Who's Who In American Colleges" list. He served in the army in World War II from 1943-1945, and when he came back he married Myrlie Beasley in 1951. "Going to the chapel and they're gonna get married." Afterwards, he got his Bachelor of Arts degree and he began supporting the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP! He also started boycotts against gas stations that wouldn't let Blacks use their bathrooms. Why would you WANT to though? I think they did them a favor. I hate gas station bathrooms! Anyways, he then worked as an insurance worker until 1954.
When Evers tried to apply to the University of Mississippi and got rejected, he knew it was because he was Black. However, this made Evers the first field secretary for the NAACP. Him and his wife then moved to Jackson, Mississippi to set up a NAACP office. He would find problems with Blacks and Whites and try to stop them. He also tried to get Blacks to vote. In the 1960s, he set up boycotts against some merchants which got a lot of attention from a lot of people.
He tried to send his friend to the University of Mississippi, and he got denied. This got the federal help he'd been wanting. With that help, he got his friend into the college. This was a big thing for civil rights and it made Evers super happy. He was a civil rights leader and he was trying to get equality for Blacks in Mississippi.
Sadly, not everyone was happy about Everes's success. A riot started and four people died. A lot of people grew to even hate Everes. Medgar Wiley Everes was assassinated on June 12, 1963. He was only 38. HE WAS SO YOUNG! He was coming back from work, when he was at the door to his house he was shot. His wife and kids rushed to his aid, but sadly they were too late. Both Blacks and Whites from all over the country came to his funeral. He was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.
As I said at the beginning of the blog, it's Black History Month! And since it is, I went to the Atlanta History Museum yesterday. We learned about how people had to fight for slavery and to end slavery. This was called the Civil War. I learned that the Civil War was the bloodiest war and had the most deaths. Like if you added up all the deaths for the American Revolution, Spanish American War, War of 1812, World War I and II, Korean War, and the Vietnamese War, it would equal how many people died in the Civil War.
Something I liked about going was that we got to pretend we were soldiers. We went through what life would be like for them. It was cool because we had a paper that had a person who actually fought in the Civil War. They gave us actual scenarios that they went through and we had an option of doing things. By the end of the acting thing, we would either die or live and be sane or insane. I died but I was sane!
Well that was my random social studies blog! Hope you enjoyed! Don't worry, my next blog will be science related! Bye! Science Fun:)
