ED GORDON, host: On June 12th, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was shot dead in the      driveway of his Mississippi home.  The assassination made Evers the first      in a line of civil rights leaders to be cut down in the 1960s.  His      murder prompted President John F. Kennedy to ask Congress for a civil      rights bill, which was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson the next year.      But while his death has become legendary, his life of activism and his      accomplishments have been somewhat overlooked, so says his widow, Myrlie      Evers-Williams.</s>Mrs. MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS (Widow of Slain Civil Rights Leader Medgar      Evers): Every time I pick up a book about civil rights and civil rights      leaders, and I will see Medgar has simply a sentence, I found that rather      offensive as his widow and one who knew what he went through and the      sacrifices he made.</s>ED GORDON, host: Indeed, in life Medgar Evers contributed a great deal to the      civil rights movement, especially in his home state of Mississippi.  In      the face of tremendous pressure, Evers established several chapters of      the NAACP along the delta.  He was also the first to integrate what was      then one of the most segregated institutions in the South, the University      of Mississippi.  And perhaps because of Evers' pioneering efforts in that      state, today Mississippi has more African-American elected officials than      any other state in the country.</s>Mrs. MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS (Widow of Slain Civil Rights Leader Medgar      Evers): I hope that people will be able to see him not only      as a visionary, but someone who was a strategist as well, and be able to      follow some of his actions and thinking and apply it to today.</s>ED GORDON, host: Medgar Evers died 42 years ago yesterday.  Myrlie Evers-Williams      has written a new book about her husband's life.  We'll talk with her      about it later in the week.
On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was shot dead in the driveway of his Mississippi home. The assassination made Evers the first in a line of civil rights leaders to be cut down in the 1960s, and his murder prompted President Kennedy to ask Congress for a civil rights bill, which was signed into law by President Johnson the next year.