The Medgar and Myrlie Evers home in Jackson, Miss. (Photo by U.S. Civil Rights Trail
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith commended Senate passage of S. 47, “the Natural Resources Management Act,” which included a proposal authored by the senators to designate the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in Jackson as a national monument within the National Park System.
“With this vote, the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home is one step closer to getting the national recognition and protection it deserves,” Wicker said. “I am hopeful Congress will send this legislation to the President’s desk without delay.”
“The Medgar and Myrlie Evers home has been integral in telling the story of this family’s pursuit of equality and justice during the civil rights movement. I look forward to the House of Representatives embracing this effort to honor the Evers and their work as part of Black History Month,” Hyde-Smith said.
Wicker and Hyde-Smith reintroduced their legislation in January in an effort to bring additional federal resources to the site. The national monument designation is reserved for sites of great cultural, historical, or natural significance to the United States. It provides permanent protection by Congress under the Antiquities Act.
The home also recently became an official African American Civil Rights Network site.
Related: Evers’ home becomes Civil Rights landmark
The Evers home, acquired by Tougaloo College in 1993 and labeled a museum in 1997, is currently a designated Mississippi landmark under the State Antiquity Law and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
