In 1948, Evers enrolled at Alcorn College, now Alcorn State University majoring in business administration. He also competed on the debate, football, and track teams, sang in the choir, and was junior class president. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1952. He married classmate Myrlie Beasley in 1951 while they were still in college. Together they had three children: Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke Evers.The couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a town that was founded by African Americans. There Evers became a salesman for T. R. M. Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1954, Evers applied to the segregated University of Mississippi Law School as a test case for the NAACP, but his application was rejected because of his race. In late 1954, Evers was named the NAACP's first field secretary for Mississippi. In this position, he helped organize boycotts and set up new local chapters of the NAACP. He was involved with James Meredith's efforts to enroll in the University of Mississippi in the early 1960s. Evers also helped Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr., organize the Biloxi, Mississippi wade-ins, protests against segregation of public beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.