Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for being so kind in yielding.

Mr. Speaker, today the House will consider H.R. 4895, the Medgar Evers Home National Monument Act, a bipartisan bill to designate the home of civil rights leader Medgar Evers as a national monument.

Located in Jackson, Mississippi, the Evers family home, which was designated a national historic landmark in 2017, is hallowed ground for those of us who lived through the struggle for racial equality and desegregation.

That single-story ranch-style house bore witness to one of the most consequential moments in the civil rights era: the assassination of Medgar Wiley Evers, a son of Mississippi, who was assassinated in his driveway by those who saw his efforts at making America a more perfect and just Union as a threat.

Through his work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Medgar Evers earned an indelible place in the annals of American history and the civil rights movement. Mr. Evers was a hero for change, resistance, and equal rights for African-American citizens in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to, in my capacity as a Congressman of the Second Congressional District of Mississippi, author this legislation to honor the sacrifice of not just civil rights icon Medgar Evers, but his widow, Myrlie, by designating their home as a national monument.

Medgar Evers had a vision to defeat injustice for African Americans in the State of Mississippi as well as throughout the United States. Born in Decatur, Mississippi, Mr. Evers lived through the Jim Crow South and wrangled with the overwhelming plight of racial discrimination head-on.

Mr. Evers was a 1952 graduate of what is now known as Alcorn State University, a great institution situated in my district. After graduating, Evers worked on the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, which provided him with critical training in activism. Then, in 1954, he applied to the University of Mississippi School of Law, and despite the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, his application was rejected.

After the rejection by the University of Mississippi School of Law, Mr. Evers accepted the position of State field secretary for the NAACP. Over a 9-year period, Mr. Evers crisscrossed the State, working to get African Americans involved in civil rights activism and to register to vote.

Even though racial discrimination and oppression had polluted the minds of an overwhelming majority of Whites in Mississippi and throughout the South, Mr. Evers led many of the fights against injustice. His dogged pursuit for justice made him a target for hate, and on June 12, 1963, Mr. Evers was gunned down in the driveway of his home and later died at a local hospital.

Designating the home of Medgar Evers a national monument will be an everlasting tribute to his legacy and journey that countless Americans undertook for equality.

This legislation is of great personal importance to me because I, like many others, was inspired by the magnitude of the determination of Mr. Evers to dedicate himself to others and fight against adversity. I am honored to walk the path paved by such a civil rights icon.

H.R. 4895 is a bipartisan measure. Representative Rob Bishop of Utah is an original cosponsor.

Additionally, it adds significant support from stakeholders. I received letters of support for H.R. 4895 from Tougaloo College, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Jackson Historic Preservation Commission.

Mr. Speaker, I include these letters of support in the Record.

Tougaloo College,

Tougaloo, MS, January 29, 2018.

Hon. Rob Bishop,

Chairman, Natural Resources Committee,

Washington, DC.

Dear Congressman Bishop: I have discussed with the

leadership of Tougaloo College's Board of Trustees the plan

to designate the Medgar Evers Home Museum as a national

monument through congressional legislation. We have reviewed

the proposed draft legislation and spoken with Congressman

Bennie G. Thompson, our congressional representative. We have

also spoken with the Mrs. Myrlie Evers Williams and her

daughter. We have received no opposition to the plan to move

forward with this designation through congressional

legislation.

We support the transfer of ownership to the National Park

Services, if the legislation passes. We are inspired by the

distinction this designation would mean for the Medgar Evers

Home and the legacy of Medgar Evers. We are also encouraged

to know the Home would be maintained by the National Park

Services. We are equally encouraged that there will be

opportunities for the College to continue to play a role with

the Home through interpretative and educational programming

as well as other learning opportunities that might be

available for our students.

Thank you for contacting Tougaloo College. We look forward

to hearing from you regarding the next steps.

Sincerely,

Beverly W. Hogan,

President.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for his very kind yielding of time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4895) to establish the Medgar Evers National Monument in the State of Mississippi, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I know this is somewhat unusual, but I really would like to have the sponsor of this bill have the first opportunity to speak towards it. It is one of my favorites, so I am going to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Thompson introducing this bill, and introducing it with his remarks so far. This is an important one to me, too, which is why I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill.

I remember this gentleman, and I remember the events of his assassination. I think it had an impact on everybody.

Medgar Evers was born in 1925 and served in the military during World War II in both Germany and France and then became one of those who fought to try and integrate a law school in the 1950s.

He was assassinated, as Mr. Thompson said, in 1963, and I clearly remember watching that on the news at the time and being impacted by it.

Mr. Soto probably wasn't even born then, but the rest of us still remember this event going on there.

He tragically died within an hour after that shooting and is now buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The home was donated to Tougaloo University, and it is currently being operated as a museum with period pieces, as well as the memorabilia that talks about the legacy of this icon of the civil rights movement.

I am happy that we are doing this particular bill, because these are the kinds of projects that should be national monuments. These are the historical sites that need to be in the National Park System so that people can go there, they can learn, and, more importantly, so they can remember. Because it is in forgetting in which we sin; in remembering is when we will never forget the legacy of Medgar Evers and what he sacrificed to move this country forward in some particular way.

So I commend Representative Thompson for introducing this legislation. I am very proud of the way we are doing it. This is the proper way of creating a national monument: by legislative action and going through the legislative process, during the hearing, during the committee, bringing it to the floor, and then taking it over to the Senate.

I expect this to be passed very quickly. I expect this to become a reality. And I expect this to be an illustration of how Congress should be creating national monuments going forward in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will not say the gentleman is just a child.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for, one, chronicling the legacy and untimely death of Medgar Evers, a favorite son of Mississippi and civil rights hero, and also for his personal remarks on how he inspired him.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, while I was born 15 years after the untimely death of Mr. Medgar Evers, we live in a more just and perfect union as a result of his sacrifices.

So I thank his sacrifices and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) for bringing this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.