Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (pictured) and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama introduced a bill Monday to make the Medgar Evers home a monument. Photo by Imani Khayyam.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An effort to turn the home of a slain civil rights leader into a national monument is gaining more bipartisan support.
Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama introduced a bill Monday to make the Medgar Evers home a monument.
The U.S. House passed a bill last week to do the same thing. The two chambers must agree on a single bill before it could go to the president.
As Mississippi's first NAACP field secretary beginning in 1954, Evers organized protests and boycotts to fight segregation. He was assassinated by a white supremacist outside his family's Jackson home in 1963.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended national monument status for the Evers home, which is now owned by Tougaloo College.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID