On this date in 1963 Medgar Evers was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith in the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi house. At the time of his death, Evers was a huge activist in the fight against Jim Crow south. The 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi directed by Rob Reiner tells the story of the 1994 retrial of Beckwith, in which prosecutor Robert DeLaughter of the District Attorney's office secured a conviction.

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Musician Bob Dylan wrote his 1963 song "Only a Pawn in Their Game" about Evers and his assassin.
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