MDAH Announces 2025 Evers Research Fellow
Theron Wilkerson, Auburn University doctoral student, will research the connection between Medgar Evers, environmental policy, and racial segregation
Theron Wilkerson, the 2025 Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellow.
Theron Wilkerson, a doctoral student at Auburn University, has been named the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellow for 2025. Wilkerson will conduct research this summer in the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers housed at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson.
“It is an honor to carry forward the legacy of Medgar and Myrlie Evers through research that centers Black civic life, environmental memory, and public history in central Mississippi,” said Wilkerson.
By examining the records and correspondence of Medgar Evers during his time as Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP, among other archival collections at MDAH, Wilkerson will explore how environmental policy and racial segregation shaped civic life for Black communities in central Mississippi, focusing on the Ross Barnett Reservoir and the legacy of Medgar and Myrlie Evers.
After completing his Bachelor of Arts in History from Jackson State University, Wilkerson received his Master of Arts in African American Studies from Georgia State University. He is working toward his doctoral degree in Administration of Higher Education. Wilkerson will use the $5,000 fellowship to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while doing primary research at the archives.
Laura Heller, MDAH acquisitions and collections coordinator, said the department’s partnership with the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute makes the fellowship possible.
“Our collaboration with the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute guides scholars in their pursuit of history and research,” Heller said. “Theron will gain valuable insight using the Medgar and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers this summer.”
The fellowship also seeks to increase scholars’ lifelong interest in history and to promote continued academic and public appreciation of Medgar and Myrlie Evers’ life and work, the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, and the struggle for human rights.
The Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers may be accessed at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. For more information on the fellowship or about the collection, contact Heller at 601-576-6889, or by email at fellowships@mdah.ms.gov.