WASHINGTON – The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning approved legislation sponsored by U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and  to authorize a study on designating the home of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers as a National Park Service unit.

Wednesday’s committee approval of the Medgar Evers House Study Act (S.2177) makes the measure available for consideration by the Senate.

“We are one step closer to achieving this important goal,” Wicker said. “I am confident that the study, once completed, will prove what many of us already know – that Medgar Evers’s home is a historic landmark worthy of being included in the National Park System. I am hopeful that the Senate will consider this legislation soon.”

“More than 50 years have passed since many of the significant events of the civil rights movement took place. The tragic murder of Medgar Evers at his home was such an event. This bill would direct the National Park Service to study how the nation’s civil rights history may be enhanced by the preservation of the Evers home,” Cochran said.

The measure would authorize a special resource study to evaluate the national significance of the Medgar Evers home in Jackson and to determine the suitability and feasibility of designating it as a unit of the National Park System. The study would also consider alternatives for preserving, protecting and interpreting the site by federal, state, or local governments, or private entities and organizations.

The legislation is supported by Tougaloo College, which acquired the Evers home in 1993 and designated it as a museum in 1997. The site is a designated Mississippi landmark under the State Antiquity Law and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A House companion measure, HR.959, introduced by Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was approved by voice vote in the House of Representatives last September.

Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran and civil rights leader, was assassinated June 12, 1963, in the driveway of his home while his family was inside. The home, preserved by Tougaloo College, includes items regarding the Evers’ career and legacy.