--- description: LIFE shares the story behind one of the most stirring pictures of the Civil Rights era. title: Medgar Evers: Photos From the Funeral of a Civil Rights Hero, 1963 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf19b64b6dc1a743b/69877bf2e53aba7e834d73c8/150126-medgar-evers-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Civil Rights](/tag/civil-rights/) ## Civil Rights Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Behind the Picture: Medgar Evers' Funeral, June 1963 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:53 PM CUTPublished: Jun 11, 2013 5:39 PM CUT  Myrlie Evers comforts her son, Darrell Kenyatta Evers, at the funeral of murdered civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, June 15, 1963. Myrlie Evers comforts her son, Darrell Kenyatta Evers, at the funeral of murdered civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, June 15, 1963.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:53 PM CUTPublished: Jun 11, 2013 5:39 PM CUT In 1994, eight black and four white jurors found 74-year-old white supremacist and long-time Klan member Byron De La Beckwith guilty of first-degree murder in the 1963 killing of civil rights activist and U.S. Army veteran, Medgar Evers. De La Beckwith had been tried decades earlier for the infamous and gutless crime_—_he shot Evers in the back, with a rifle, as the 37-year-old father stood in the driveway of his Jackson, Miss., home_—_but two trials ended in hung juries. When De La Beckwith was finally held accountable for the assassination on this day in 1994, Evers’ widow Myrlie, who had fought for justice for her husband for more than 30 years, felt she might finally be free of the anger and hate she had borne for so long. Her words upon hearing the verdict? “Yes, Medgar!” Here, LIFE.com presents a series of photographs by John Loengard_—_including one that remains among the most stirring of the Civil Rights era: a portrait of a dignified, deeply grieving Myrlie Evers comforting her weeping son, Darrell Kenyatta, at Evers’ funeral. [\[MORE: A multimedia tribute to MLK and the 1963 March on Washington, “One Dream”\]](http://www.time.com/time/onedream "undefined") All these years later, it remains a grimly fascinating exercise to revisit the coverage of Evers’ death. The domestic terrorism that would, in some ways, define the era_—_the murders of JFK, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy, MLK and others_—_had not yet reared above the horizon, and had not yet stunned and saddened the country and the world. So the daylight killing of a man of Evers’ stature and significance was_—_for people of conscience, anyway_—_an especially appalling crime. In its June 28, 1963, issue, LIFE confronted the assassination with a combination of scorn (for the Klan and for white supremacists in general), anger (at the waste of such a life as Evers’) and an occasionally sardonic venom. Security officers killed a male civilian suspect after a shooting Monday night aboard the guided-missile destroyer U.S.S. Mahan at Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest navy base. The suspect was reportedly allowed to be on the base, but it's uncertain he was cleared for the ship --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- In the same issue, LIFE published a powerful tribute to Evers by his widow, Myrlie. “We all knew the danger was increasing,” she wrote. “Threats came daily, cruel and cold and constant, against us and the children. But we had lived with this hatred for years and we did not let it corrode us.” (See the page spreads from Myrlie Evers’ tribute in the gallery above.) Medgar Evers is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In 1970 the City University of New York established Medgar Evers College in his name. His daughter, Reena, his youngest child, James, and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams (she married again in 1976) are still alive. His oldest son, Darrell, died of cancer in 2001; he was 47. Byron De La Beckwith_—_who in the 1970s served three years in prison for transporting explosives_—_died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center while serving a life sentence for Evers’ murder. He was 80 years old. Today, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is Harvey Johnson, an African American and proud native Mississippian.  Myrlie Evers comforts her son, Darrell Kenyatta Evers, at the funeral of murdered civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and other civil rights leaders walk in Medgar Evers' funeral procession, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mourners bid farewell to slain NAACP official Medgar Evers at his funeral, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mourners at Medgar Evers' funeral, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mourners at Medgar Evers' funeral, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mourners at Medgar Evers' funeral, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Myrlie Evers (front row, second from right), wife of Medgar Evers; her son, Darrell Kenyatta; and other mourners at Medgar Evers' funeral, Jackson, Miss., June 15, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, June 28, 1963. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, June 28, 1963. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, June 28, 1963. 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