Hundreds enjoy Medgar Evers Homecoming Parade - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS
Larita Cooper-Stokes left the wide brimmed hat at home for the Medgar Evers Parade Saturday, instead choosing a baseball cap and helping to direct traffic while her husband, Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes, whizzed around in a golf cart to keep the parade flowing smoothly.
"We got the grand marshal, Ms. Pittman, who not only was a part of the NAACP and knew Medgar, she also fought for the Medgar Evers airport," he says.
The parade included debutantes, dancers, big rig trucks, limousines, and Hinds County Sheriff's Deputies on foot and on horseback.
"We are reaping the benefits of the sacrifices (Evers) made, me in particular, being the first African American Sheriff (in Hinds County)," says Sheriff Tyrone Lewis. "Some of the things he fought for was to have integrated law enforcement inside the city limits of Jackson."
A WLBT News crew served as a marshal for the parade, trying to chase away the rain in the First Alert Storm Chaser.
But from moms and dads, grandparents to children, no one seemed to mind a few raindrops amid the celebration.
"All of it is exciting, I like all of it. It's good they come out to celebrate his birthday every year," says spectator Anquinette Davis of Jackson.
Medgar Evers' birthday is July 2, but on June 12 1963 he was assassinated in his driveway in Jackson. A homecoming parade is held in Jackson around this time every year.
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