SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
View of police officers outside the home of assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP.
(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
'I Am Speechless': Historians Sickened as Trump Set to Remove Mention of Racism from Medgar Evers Monument
"The murder of Medgar Evers was an act of racial terror," said human rights activist Martin Luther King III.
Feb 05, 2026
Historians and other critics expressed disgust on Thursday after news broke that the Trump administration was removing references to racism from the monument dedicated to civil rights icon Medgar Evers.
According to a report from Mississippi Today, the National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi.
Two Park Service employees tell Mississippi Today that the brochures are expected to undergo significant revisions, including removing references labeling Evers' killer, Byron De La Beckwith, as a racist.
In fact, Beckwith was a member of both the White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan, and remained a committed white supremacist up to his death in prison in 2001.
Mississippi Today noted that the removal of the brochures at the Evers monument aren't a one-off event, and the publication cited an earlier report from the Washington Post detailing how the Trump administration "has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including an 1863 photo that Christian abolitionists used to prove the horrors of slavery."
US Civil War historian Kevin Levin reacted with shock to the Trump administration's latest effort to whitewash American history.
"I am speechless," he wrote in a social media post referencing the changes to the Evers monument.
Historian Todd Arrington, site manager of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site, noted the suspicious timing of the change in the monument brochures.
"Today is the 32nd anniversary of Byron De La Beckwith’s February 5, 1994 conviction for murdering Medgar Evers in 1963," he wrote. "I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this news broke today. That racist POS—who bragged about killing Evers at Klan meetings and rallies—died in prison in 2001."
Human rights activist Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., slammed the Trump administration for trying to distort history.
"The murder of Medgar Evers was an act of racial terror," wrote King. "That fact is not partisan. It is historical. Calling it anything else is not 'restoring truth.' It is erasing it."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Historians and other critics expressed disgust on Thursday after news broke that the Trump administration was removing references to racism from the monument dedicated to civil rights icon Medgar Evers.
According to a report from Mississippi Today, the National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi.
Two Park Service employees tell Mississippi Today that the brochures are expected to undergo significant revisions, including removing references labeling Evers' killer, Byron De La Beckwith, as a racist.
In fact, Beckwith was a member of both the White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan, and remained a committed white supremacist up to his death in prison in 2001.
Mississippi Today noted that the removal of the brochures at the Evers monument aren't a one-off event, and the publication cited an earlier report from the Washington Post detailing how the Trump administration "has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including an 1863 photo that Christian abolitionists used to prove the horrors of slavery."
US Civil War historian Kevin Levin reacted with shock to the Trump administration's latest effort to whitewash American history.
"I am speechless," he wrote in a social media post referencing the changes to the Evers monument.
Historian Todd Arrington, site manager of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site, noted the suspicious timing of the change in the monument brochures.
"Today is the 32nd anniversary of Byron De La Beckwith’s February 5, 1994 conviction for murdering Medgar Evers in 1963," he wrote. "I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this news broke today. That racist POS—who bragged about killing Evers at Klan meetings and rallies—died in prison in 2001."
Human rights activist Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., slammed the Trump administration for trying to distort history.
"The murder of Medgar Evers was an act of racial terror," wrote King. "That fact is not partisan. It is historical. Calling it anything else is not 'restoring truth.' It is erasing it."
Historians and other critics expressed disgust on Thursday after news broke that the Trump administration was removing references to racism from the monument dedicated to civil rights icon Medgar Evers.
According to a report from Mississippi Today, the National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi.
Two Park Service employees tell Mississippi Today that the brochures are expected to undergo significant revisions, including removing references labeling Evers' killer, Byron De La Beckwith, as a racist.
In fact, Beckwith was a member of both the White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan, and remained a committed white supremacist up to his death in prison in 2001.
Mississippi Today noted that the removal of the brochures at the Evers monument aren't a one-off event, and the publication cited an earlier report from the Washington Post detailing how the Trump administration "has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including an 1863 photo that Christian abolitionists used to prove the horrors of slavery."
US Civil War historian Kevin Levin reacted with shock to the Trump administration's latest effort to whitewash American history.
"I am speechless," he wrote in a social media post referencing the changes to the Evers monument.
Historian Todd Arrington, site manager of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site, noted the suspicious timing of the change in the monument brochures.
"Today is the 32nd anniversary of Byron De La Beckwith’s February 5, 1994 conviction for murdering Medgar Evers in 1963," he wrote. "I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this news broke today. That racist POS—who bragged about killing Evers at Klan meetings and rallies—died in prison in 2001."
Human rights activist Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., slammed the Trump administration for trying to distort history.
"The murder of Medgar Evers was an act of racial terror," wrote King. "That fact is not partisan. It is historical. Calling it anything else is not 'restoring truth.' It is erasing it."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.