HBCU website The Hundred-Seven recognizes Alcorn’s Medgar Wiley Evers memorial
The Medgar Wiley Evers Memorial on the campus of Alcorn State University is receiving praise as one of the “more beautiful” statues on an historically black colleges and university (HBCU) campus.
The Hundred-Seven.org, an HBCU online publication, recently took time to celebrate various monuments of iconic African-American leaders that stand tall on the 107 HBCU campuses across the country. On that list of 15 sites is the sculpture of Alcorn State University alumnus and civil rights activist, Medgar Wiley Evers.
Alcorn’s statue of Evers that stands at the entrance to the Medgar Wiley Evers Heritage Village student housing complex is featured in The Hundred-Seven’s latest highlight titled, “Campus Beauty: HBCU Sculptures, Monuments & Statues.” Leslie D. W. Jones, an educator and historian, founded the Hundred-Seven to highlight the accomplishments of HBCUs and their alumni.
Evers, who graduated from Alcorn in 1952, shined in multiple areas as a student, including being the captain of the University’s debate and football teams.
Evers became one of the most visible and respected leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement. His assassination on June 12, 1963, is considered the major motivation for President John F. Kennedy to ask Congress to immediately pass comprehensive civil rights legislation, which ultimately became the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Memorial, dedicated in 2013 following the 50th anniversary of his assassination, is the largest known to be commissioned and created in honor of the civil rights icon. It is made of bronze and stands 13 feet tall on a Brazillian granite base.
Visit https://www.thehundred-seven.org/hbcu_statues.html to view their spotlight on the Medgar Wiley Evers statue.
