We spent an extra night at Lake Pontchartrain at Fountainebleau State Park in order to take a day trip to our 325th park. It is the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home in Jackson, MS. We were in Jackson in 2020 but the park was not officially announced until a week or two after we had left the area. We thought we had finished the Southeast but no, one more park.

Medgar Evers was murdered while unloading boxes of shirts in his carport after midnight on June 13, 1963 just hours after a speech by President Kennedy on Civil Rights. Medgar was working with the NAACP and had been prominent in several efforts in the South. The man who shot him, arrested at the scene with the weapon, was acquitted twice. 31 years after the fact he was convicted of murder.

The home is a modest ranch that was similar to the one I grew up in: three small bedrooms living room, kitchen and one bath. The difference, this one had a small dinning room, ours did not but we had a laundry room. The Evers’ house also had a carport. We parked on the street.  I think ours may have been a tad smaller but this one brought back memories to me.

We were very fortunate to have been able to go inside, not usual on the day we were there but a ranger allowed us a few minutes. They have work yet to do on the site, a ramp was being built and more original furniture being located. It is furnished now in period pieces but they are looking for some that belonged to the Evers. They are also supposed to get a small parking lot this summer. Parking is very limited now in this tight neighborhood.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers National Memorial, Jackson, Mississippi