In November of 2021, Mississippi Public Broadcasting began the initial interviews for our Medgar Evers documentary. These interviews included Mississippi Civil Rights legend Dave Dennis, former NAACP Youth Council member Franke Adams Johnson, and Civil Rights legend MacArthur Cotton.
Since that time we have recorded fifteen more powerful interviews with the close family and friends of Medgar and Myrlie Evers, including their daughter Reena Evers, walking us through their Jackson home where her father was murdered.
In March of 2023, the MPB production crew travelled to Claremont, California, for our interview with Myrlie Evers. We also joined her and her family as she celebrated her 90th birthday, and later at a ceremony where she gifted her personal papers and archive collection to her alma mater, Pomona College.
In July of 2023, the MPB production team captured extensive coverage and interviews in Jackson, Vicksburg, Greenwood, and Mound Bayou, Mississippi, during a week commemorating the 60th anniversary of the murder of Medgar Evers. This included the rededication of the Evers Home as a National Historic Monument with the National Parks Service. MPB also partnered with the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute to provide production coverage for the Gen-Z Tour which hosted young people from all over the country to participate in Civil Rights Tours and Workshops. These events will be featured as additional digital content for the project.
Our production team has been working closely with historical consultants, to collect and organize hundreds of archival photos and videos that will be used across the project. Many of these assets have been mined from the expansive Evers Collection and the Civil Rights Collection housed at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Everlasting: Life and Legacy of Medgar Evers, the MPB original two hour documentary premiered September 18, 2025, on MPB television statewide and made available for (video-on-demand. This documentary released coinciding with Medgar Evers birthday and the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. We anticipate the documentary having a 1-hour run-time but it could possibly be a 2-hour program depending on how the story takes shape. The documentary will follow the eight core chapter points detailed in our treatment. MPB will also seek distribution through PBS for a national broadcast on July 2, 2025, the date of Medgar Evers’ 100th birthday.