Rep. John Lewis Chokes Up At Spot Where Medgar Evers Was Killed

Civil rights activist and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. is introduced before speaking at the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Friday, Aug. 23, 213, at t... Civil rights activist and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. is introduced before speaking at the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Friday, Aug. 23, 213, at the Newseum in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS
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Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) choked up at an event Saturday outside the Jackson, Miss. home where civil rights leader Medgar Evers was killed half a century ago, according to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

Evers, who was the NAACP’s Mississippi field secretary, was shot in the back in the driveway of his Jackson home on June 12, 1963.

“Your father… your husband, was a brave and courageous man,” Lewis told Evers’ daughter, Reena Evers-Everette, and Evers’ widow, Myrlie Evers, at Saturday’s event.

The event was a “pilgrimage” organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Faith and Politics Institute (Lewis serves as the group’s co-chair emeritus.) The Clarion-Ledger reported Monday that Lewis spoke to a crowd that included fellow members of Congress.

“The night this man was shot and killed,” Lewis said, according to the newspaper, “something died in all of us in the [civil rights] movement.”

Then Lewis’ voice caught.

“This man,” he said, “came and shed his blood to free his people.”

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