Medgar and Myrlie Evers are widely regarded as two of the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement. Medgar Evers was a pioneering visionary for civil rights in the 1950s and early 1960s in Mississippi. From the beginning, Myrlie Evers worked alongside her husband, Medgar. In the years following his assassination, she continued the pioneering work they had begun together. In 1998, she founded the Medgar Evers Institute, with the initial goal of preserving and advancing the legacy of Medgar Evers’ life’s work. Anticipating the commemoration of the anniversary of the assassination of Medgar Evers and recognizing the international leadership role of Myrlie Evers, the Institute’s board of directors changed the organization’s name to the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute.