⁍ James Charles Evers, the older brother of civil rights icon Medgar Evers, died in Mississippi Wednesday morning of natural causes.

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⁍ He was 97.Known to many as Charles, Evers was the older brother of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP leader who was killed by a sniper in 1963.

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⁍ Charles Evers was considered one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement. He became the NAACP’s state voter registration chairman in 1954.

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⁍ In 1969, Charles Evers made history when he was elected mayor of Fayette, becoming the first Black mayor in Mississippi.

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– James Charles Evers, the older brother of civil rights icon Medgar Evers, died Wednesday morning in Mississippi at the age of 97, CNN reports. According to the Clarion-Ledger, Charles Evers was the first black mayor of Fayette, Miss., in 1969. He went on to become the Mississippi NAACP’s state voter registration chairman and a businessman and radio host. Evers is believed to have been shot to death by a white man in 1963 while walking with his brother to a Mississippi NAACP meeting. Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist who was killed by a sniper. James Evers is believed to have died from natural causes. His death was announced by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. “He was a civil rights leader and a true friend to me and so many Mississippians,” the Clarion-Ledger quotes Reeves as saying. “His memory will always be cherished and honored.” Sen. Roger Wicker calls Evers “an absolute classic.” “I doubt we will ever see another like him,” the Mississippi Republican says. “Evers was never afraid to challenge the accepted norms or fly in the face of political correctness.”