Medgar Wiley Evers, born in Decatur on July 2, 1925, graduated from Newton Vocational High School and Alcorn College. After serving in the military in World War II, he returned to Decatur and, along with his brother Charles, attempted to register to vote there in 1946 but was turned away. An active participant in the fight to end racial segregation, he was later named Mississippi's first NAACP Field Secretary. On June 12, 1963, he was assassinated outside his home in Jackson and is buried at Arlington Cemetery.