A monument honoring civil rights pioneer Myrlie Evers-Williams will be placed in Vicksburg’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Kuhn Civil Rights Memorial Park, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Sunday.

The announcement of the monument came at a special program Sunday honoring Evers-Williams, a Vicksburg native, and her late husband Medgar Evers, who was assassinated on June 12, 1963, in Jackson. Byron De La Beckwith was later convicted in Evers’ death. The couple was married in Vicksburg at Mt. Heroden Baptist Church in 1951.

“We are going to erect a monument on your behalf so that African Americans walking that trail can see first your courage,” Flaggs said to Evers-Williams, who was in attendance on Sunday. He said the city would set aside a special day for Evers-Williams and hold a dedication ceremony when the monument is completed.

Flaggs said the city could not celebrate its bicentennial without acknowledging the courage, strength and inspiration Evers-Williams provides the city’s African Americans.

He said the park would have a walking trail and highlight the importance of Kuhn Memorial Hospital to the community with monuments to the hospital and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and displays showing the contributions of area residents, churches and organizations to the civil rights movement.

Built on the site of the former Kuhn Memorial Hospital, the civil rights park will have a walking trail and highlight the importance of Kuhn Memorial Hospital to the community with monuments to the hospital and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and displays showing the contributions of area residents, churches and organizations to the civil rights movement.