60 years after Medgar Evers' murder, his widow continues a civil rights legacy

Myrlie Evers, civil right leader and widow of slain civil rights icon Medgar Evers, acknowledges the audience applause after the unveiling of the new park sign for Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, June 8, 2023. The event was designed to both celebrate recent preservation and protection efforts that extend access to the Evers story and to open a weekend-long commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 963 assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

At 90, Myrlie Evers-Williams still speaks in a clear, strong voice as she says she terribly misses her first love, civil rights icon Medgar Evers, as she reflects on his work to push the U.S. toward a promise of equality and justice for all.

It’s been 60 years since a white supremacist hid in the darkness of night and assassinated Evers outside the family’s Jackson home, shooting the Mississippi NAACP leader hours after then-President John F. Kennedy gave a televised speech advocating civil rights legislation.

Evers-Williams and the couple’s three young children were in the house. After hearing the crack of a rifle, she rushed to her mortally wounded husband, who lay bleeding in the carport.