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Medgar Evers and Roy Wilkins

Medgar Evers and Roy Wilkins
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Roy Wilkins, 30 Aug 1901 - Sep 1981
Medgar Evers, 1925 - 1963
Date
1963
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 19.4 x 24.2cm (7 5/8 x 9 1/2")
Sheet: 20.7 x 25.4cm (8 1/8 x 10")
Mat: 35.6 x 45.7cm (14 x 18")
Topic
Costume\Headgear\Hat
Weapon\Gun
Equipment\Sign
Vehicle\Automobile
Exterior\Street
Roy Wilkins: Male
Roy Wilkins: Journalism and Media\Magazine editor
Roy Wilkins: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist\Civil rights leader
Roy Wilkins: Journalism and Media\Journalist\Editorial writer
Roy Wilkins: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Roy Wilkins: Congressional Gold Medal
Medgar Evers: Male
Medgar Evers: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist\Civil rights leader
Portrait
Place
United States\Mississippi\Jackson
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© The New York Times
Object number
NPG.2001.81
Exhibition Label
Roy Wilkins (1901–1981), Born St. Louis, Missouri
Medgar Evers (1925–1963), Born Decatur, Mississippi
Medgar Evers (center right) played a critical role in organizing and sustaining the Jackson Movement--a multifaceted campaign to end segregation in Mississippi’s most populous city. In the spring of 1963, Evers launched a boycott of stores in Jackson’s main shopping district after the mayor rejected an NAACP-sponsored resolution calling for fair hiring practices in municipal jobs, desegregation of public facilities and accommodations, an end to discriminatory business practices, and the establishment of a biracial committee to combat injustice and promote reform. When NAACP national secretary Roy Wilkins (center left) joined Evers in picketing the F. W. Woolworth store in downtown Jackson, local police brandishing electric cattle prods swiftly arrested both men. This press photograph documenting the arrest appeared in the New York Times on June 2, 1963--just ten days before a white supremacist assassinated Evers.
Roy Wilkins (1901–1981), Nacido en St. Louis, Missouri
Medgar Evers (1925–1963), Nacido en Decatur, Mississippi
Medgar Evers (centro a la derecha) desempeñó un papel fundamental en la organización y el manteni- miento del Movimiento Jackson, una campaña multi- facética que buscaba poner fin a la segregación en la ciudad más poblada de Mississippi. En la primavera de 1963, Evers lanzó un boicot a las tiendas del principal distrito comercial de Jackson después de que el alcalde de la ciudad rechazara la resolución patrocinada por la NAACP que exigía prácticas de contratación justas en empleos municipales, desegregación de las instalaciones y los alojamientos públicos, el fin de las prácticas comerciales discrimi- natorias y el establecimiento de un comité birracial para combatir la injusticia y promover la reforma. Cuando el secretario nacional de la NAACP Roy Wilkins (centro a la izquierda) se unió a Evers en el piquete de la tienda F. W. Woolworth en el centro de Jackson, la policía, blandiendo picanas eléctricas, los arrestó a ambos rápidamente. Esta fotografía de prensa, que documenta el arresto, se publicó en el New York Times el 2 de junio de 1963, tan sólo diez días antes del asesinato de Evers por parte de un supremacista blanco.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view