Video: 'Medgar Evers - Part 1, Civil Rights Heroes, Martin Kent Documentary' (June 12, 1963, at 4:28)

(Wednesday, June 12, 1963, at approximately 12:40 a.m. CST; during the Civil rights movement) — Medgar Evers, a 37-year-old African-American civil rights activist, was shot and killed today while standing in his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi, by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens’ Council in Jackson and a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Evers had pulled into his driveway after returning from a meeting with NAACP lawyers. Evers’s family had worried for his safety that day; Evers himself had warned his wife that he felt in greater danger than usual.

Video: 'Medgar Evers - Part 2, Civil Rights Heroes Discovery Documentary'

Emerging from his car and carrying NAACP T-shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go,” Evers was struck in the back with a bullet fired from an Eddystone Enfield 1917 rifle; the bullet passed through his heart.

Initially thrown to the ground by the impact of the shot, Evers rose and staggered 30 feet before collapsing outside his front door. His wife, Myrlie, was the first to find him.

Video: 'The Fabulous Sixties: 1963' (Evers assassination at 14:57)

He was taken to the local hospital in Jackson, where he was initially refused entry because of his race. His family explained who he was and he was admitted; he died in the hospital at 1:14 a.m. CST.

Mourned nationally, Evers was buried on June 19, 1963, in Arlington National Cemetery, where, as a veteran, he received full military honors before a crowd of more than 3,000.

Video: 'Medgar Evers - Assassination | American Freedom Stories | Biography'

De La Beckwith was arrested on June 21, 1963, but after two trials in 1964 that would both end without the jurors being able to reach a verdict, Beckwith would elude conviction for thirty years.

He would finally be convicted of the murder on February 5, 1994, and spend the rest of his life in prison, dying in 2001.

Video: 'Justice for Medgar Evers Comes 30 Years After His Murder'

Evers’ assassination and the resulting trials inspired civil rights protests, and his life and death inspired numerous works of art, music, and film.

The Evers home, at 2332 Margaret Walker Alexander Drive in Jackson, Mississippi, is now designated as a historic landmark.