Little Rock Central High closeup

Little Rock Central High School

Medgar Evers Statue Memorial

It's appropriate that our civil rights pilgramage began in a light snow in Jackson Mississippi with me looking up at Medger Evers, the first civil rights hero who moved me. I learned later that Medger Evers, like many other black World War Two veterans came home from war determined to achieve democracy for all in their own nation.

Medgar Evers Home

Here I stand on the driveway where Medger Evers, civil rights organizer, was shot in the back as he came home from work. His children and wife were in the house, and hit the floor in response to gunshots as he had taught them. I remember reading about this assassination in Life Magazine as a young teen and feeling connection with the children, admiration for the man, and horror at the manner of his death. I knew then that I did not understand the hate and fear that caused this assassination and too many others. This pilgrimage is an extension of my desire to understand better what happened around race in the American south and maybe to understand better what happens every time human beings hate each other because of some belief or characteristic. If I can't understand, at least I could stand on Medger Ever's driveway and cry for him.

Jackson Old Capitol Building

In this old capitol building Mississippi failed to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Also in this building the notorious Black Codes were written.

Jackson Public Library

The first sit in in Jackson occurred at this site. Nine students from Tougaloo College picked up library books and sat down to quietly read. Police were summoned and they were promptly arrested. Sit ins at lunch counters and other facilities followed.

Jackson church

At a mass meeting at this church, the night after Medger Evers was assassinated, his widow Myralie spoke to the crowd and said, "I come to you tonight with a broken heart. I come to you to make a plea that all of you here, and all of you not here, will, by his death, be able to draw some of his strength, some of his courage, and some of his determination to finish this fight."