William Lewis Moore
William Lewis Moore | |
---|---|
Born | (1927-04-28)April 28, 1927 Binghamton, New York, U.S. |
Died | April 23, 1963(1963-04-23) (aged 35) Attalla, Alabama, U.S. |
Organization | Congress of Racial Equality |
Movement | Civil Rights Movement |
William Lewis Moore (April 28, 1927 – April 23, 1963) was a postal worker and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) member who staged lone protests against racial segregation. He was assassinated in Keener, Alabama, during a protest march from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, where he intended to deliver a letter to Governor Ross Barnett, supporting civil rights.
Life
Moore was born in Binghamton, New York, and raised in New York and Mississippi. For a time before his death he lived in Baltimore, Maryland.
In the early 1950s, when Moore was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, he had a mental breakdown. He was institutionalized for a year and a half with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. After being released, he became an activist on behalf of the mentally ill. He gradually got involved in civil rights activism for African Americans.
Moore joined the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). In early 1960s, Moore undertook three civil rights protests in which he marched to a capital to hand-deliver letters he had written denouncing racial segregation.
On his first march he walked to Annapolis, Maryland, the state capital. On his second march he walked to the White House. He arrived at about the same time that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was being released from the Birmingham jail after protests in that city. His letter to President John F. Kennedy said that he intended to walk to Mississippi and "If I may deliver any letters from you to those on my line of travel, I would be most happy to do so."
For his third protest he planned to walk from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi and deliver a letter to Governor Ross Barnett urging him to accept integration. He was wearing sandwich board signs stating: "Equal rights for all & Mississippi or Bust".
On April 23, 1963, about 70 miles (110 km) into his march, Moore was interviewed by Charlie Hicks, a reporter from radio station WGAD in Gadsden, Alabama, along a rural stretch of U.S. Highway 11 near Attalla. The station had received an anonymous phone tip about Moore's location. In the interview, Moore said: "I intend to walk right up to the governor's mansion in Mississippi and ring his doorbell. Then I'll hand him my letter." Concerned for Moore's safety, Hicks offered to drive him to a motel. Moore insisted on continuing his march.
Less than an hour after the reporter left the scene, a passing motorist found Moore's body about a mile farther down the road, shot twice in the head at close range with a .22 caliber rifle. The gun's ownership was traced to Floyd Simpson, a white man who was a known "investigator" for the local Klu Klux Klan chapter, whom Moore had also openly argued with just earlier that same day; however in September 1963, an Etowah County grand jury decided there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Simpson. Moore died a week short of his 36th birthday. His letter was found and opened. In it, Moore reasoned that "the white man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights." He asked Governor Barnett to: "Be gracious and give more than is immediately demanded of you...."
Folk singer Phil Ochs wrote a song in tribute to William Moore that is part of the posthumously released 1986 album A Toast to Those Who Are Gone.[1][2] Another tribute song (in German) for William Moore was written by East German singer/songwriter Wolf Biermann.[3][4] Pete Seeger sang "William Moore, The Mailman" on his album, Broadside Ballads.
Starting April 23, 2008, Ellen Johnson and Ken Loukinen walked the 320 miles (510 km) from Reece City, Alabama, near where Moore was killed, and delivered Bill Moore's original letter to the capitol in Jackson, Mississippi.[5] Bob Zellner, a long time activist and first white Field Secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was with them and attempted to present the letter to Governor Haley Barbour on May 6, 2008, but the latter declined to meet with the party.[6]
Memorial
On the 47th anniversary of Moore's murder, April 23, 2010, a memorial plaque in tribute to Moore was unveiled. The plaque is permanently on display at the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center, across from Kennedy Park and down the street from the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, in Binghamton, New York.[7]
A pioneer in civil rights, Moore is the only white person featured in Investigation Discovery's Injustice Files in 2011.[8]
Historical marker
A ceremony unveiling the historic marker was held on Sunday, April 14, 2019, at the site of the murder. The Alabama Historical Society makes placement of such markers possible, but someone else has to pay for them. As the effort went forward, the Southern Poverty Law Center offered to pay the cost of the marker, estimated to be about $3,000. But Jerry Smith, Danny Crownover and Marissa Cannon, local Etowah County historians, believe the money should come locally to mark this tragic day in local history. Cannon was preparing to do some fundraising in the Attalla area when Smith got in contact with County Commissioner Johnny Grant. Grant arranged for Smith to speak to the commission, and members committed to giving money from their discretionary funds to pay for the marker. Smith said the SPLC remains involved and is making a $2,000 donation to Keener Baptist Church for its work toward the ceremony.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Lyrics of "William Moore" by Phil Ochs
- ^ Audio recording of "William Moore" by Phil Ochs
- ^ Manfred Krug and the Jazz Optimisten Berlin perform Wolf Biermann's Ballad of William L. Moore from Baltimore
- ^ Audio recording of Wolf Biermann performing "Ballade vom Briefträger William L. Moore"
- ^ Miles Johnson, "A Postman's 1963 Walk For Justice, Cut Short On An Alabama Road," 8/14/2013 (npr.org)
- ^ "Bill Moore's Unfinished Journey" (patheos.com)
- ^ "William L. Moore – A forgotten advocate for civil rights and mental health issues – Canadian Military History". militarybruce.com. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
- ^ "Injustice Files: The Murder of William Lewis Moore", (Investigation Discovery website)
- ^ Historical marker for murdered civil rights activist dedicated in Keener (gadsdentimes.com)
Further reading
- Charles D. Lowery and John F. Marszalek (editors), Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights, pp. 365–366
- Taylor Branch, Parting The Waters, p. 748.
- Mary Stanton, Freedom Walk: Mississippi Or Bust, University Press of Mississippi, 2003
External links
- Activists take walk to remember, Gadsden Times, April 24, 2008
- Freedom Walk 2008
- v
- t
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(timeline)
groups
- Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
- Atlanta Student Movement
- Black Panther Party
- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
- Committee for Freedom Now
- Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
- Council for United Civil Rights Leadership
- Council of Federated Organizations
- Dallas County Voters League
- Deacons for Defense and Justice
- Georgia Council on Human Relations
- Highlander Folk School
- Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Lowndes County Freedom Organization
- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
- Montgomery Improvement Association
- NAACP
- Nashville Student Movement
- Nation of Islam
- Northern Student Movement
- National Council of Negro Women
- National Urban League
- Operation Breadbasket
- Regional Council of Negro Leadership
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- Southern Regional Council
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- The Freedom Singers
- United Auto Workers (UAW)
- Wednesdays in Mississippi
- Women's Political Council
- Ralph Abernathy
- Victoria Gray Adams
- Zev Aelony
- Mathew Ahmann
- Muhammad Ali
- William G. Anderson
- Gwendolyn Armstrong
- Arnold Aronson
- Ella Baker
- James Baldwin
- Marion Barry
- Daisy Bates
- Harry Belafonte
- James Bevel
- Claude Black
- Gloria Blackwell
- Randolph Blackwell
- Unita Blackwell
- Ezell Blair Jr.
- Joanne Bland
- Julian Bond
- Joseph E. Boone
- William Holmes Borders
- Amelia Boynton
- Bruce Boynton
- Raylawni Branch
- Stanley Branche
- Ruby Bridges
- Aurelia Browder
- H. Rap Brown
- Ralph Bunche
- Guy Carawan
- Stokely Carmichael
- Johnnie Carr
- James Chaney
- J. L. Chestnut
- Shirley Chisholm
- Colia Lafayette Clark
- Ramsey Clark
- Septima Clark
- Xernona Clayton
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Kathleen Cleaver
- Charles E. Cobb Jr.
- Annie Lee Cooper
- Dorothy Cotton
- Claudette Colvin
- Vernon Dahmer
- Jonathan Daniels
- Abraham Lincoln Davis
- Angela Davis
- Joseph DeLaine
- Dave Dennis
- Annie Devine
- Patricia Stephens Due
- Joseph Ellwanger
- Charles Evers
- Medgar Evers
- Myrlie Evers-Williams
- Chuck Fager
- James Farmer
- Walter Fauntroy
- James Forman
- Marie Foster
- Golden Frinks
- Andrew Goodman
- Robert Graetz
- Fred Gray
- Jack Greenberg
- Dick Gregory
- Lawrence Guyot
- Prathia Hall
- Fannie Lou Hamer
- Fred Hampton
- William E. Harbour
- Vincent Harding
- Dorothy Height
- Audrey Faye Hendricks
- Lola Hendricks
- Aaron Henry
- Oliver Hill
- Donald L. Hollowell
- James Hood
- Myles Horton
- Zilphia Horton
- T. R. M. Howard
- Ruby Hurley
- Cecil Ivory
- Jesse Jackson
- Jimmie Lee Jackson
- Richie Jean Jackson
- T. J. Jemison
- Esau Jenkins
- Barbara Rose Johns
- Vernon Johns
- Frank Minis Johnson
- Clarence Jones
- J. Charles Jones
- Matthew Jones
- Vernon Jordan
- Tom Kahn
- Clyde Kennard
- A. D. King
- C.B. King
- Coretta Scott King
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Martin Luther King Sr.
- Bernard Lafayette
- James Lawson
- Bernard Lee
- Sanford R. Leigh
- Jim Letherer
- Stanley Levison
- John Lewis
- Viola Liuzzo
- Z. Alexander Looby
- Joseph Lowery
- Clara Luper
- Danny Lyon
- Malcolm X
- Mae Mallory
- Vivian Malone
- Bob Mants
- Thurgood Marshall
- Benjamin Mays
- Franklin McCain
- Charles McDew
- Ralph McGill
- Floyd McKissick
- Joseph McNeil
- James Meredith
- William Ming
- Jack Minnis
- Amzie Moore
- Cecil B. Moore
- Douglas E. Moore
- Harriette Moore
- Harry T. Moore
- Queen Mother Moore
- William Lewis Moore
- Irene Morgan
- Bob Moses
- William Moyer
- Elijah Muhammad
- Diane Nash
- Charles Neblett
- Huey P. Newton
- Edgar Nixon
- Jack O'Dell
- James Orange
- Rosa Parks
- James Peck
- Charles Person
- Homer Plessy
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
- Fay Bellamy Powell
- Rodney N. Powell
- Al Raby
- Lincoln Ragsdale
- A. Philip Randolph
- George Raymond
- George Raymond Jr.
- Bernice Johnson Reagon
- Cordell Reagon
- James Reeb
- Frederick D. Reese
- Walter Reuther
- Gloria Richardson
- David Richmond
- Bernice Robinson
- Jo Ann Robinson
- Angela Russell
- Bayard Rustin
- Bernie Sanders
- Michael Schwerner
- Bobby Seale
- Cleveland Sellers
- Charles Sherrod
- Alexander D. Shimkin
- Fred Shuttlesworth
- Modjeska Monteith Simkins
- Glenn E. Smiley
- A. Maceo Smith
- Kelly Miller Smith
- Mary Louise Smith
- Maxine Smith
- Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson
- Charles Kenzie Steele
- Hank Thomas
- Dorothy Tillman
- A. P. Tureaud
- Hartman Turnbow
- Albert Turner
- C. T. Vivian
- Wyatt Tee Walker
- Hollis Watkins
- Walter Francis White
- Roy Wilkins
- Hosea Williams
- Kale Williams
- Robert F. Williams
- Andrew Young
- Whitney Young
- Sammy Younge Jr.
- Bob Zellner
- James Zwerg
songs
- "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
- "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus"
- "Kumbaya"
- "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
- "Oh, Freedom"
- "This Little Light of Mine"
- "We Shall Not Be Moved"
- "We Shall Overcome"
- "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)"
- Jim Crow laws
- Lynching in the United States
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- Buchanan v. Warley
- Hocutt v. Wilson
- Sweatt v. Painter
- Hernandez v. Texas
- Loving v. Virginia
- African-American women in the movement
- Jews in the civil rights movement
- Fifth Circuit Four
- 16th Street Baptist Church
- Kelly Ingram Park
- A.G. Gaston Motel
- Bethel Baptist Church
- Brown Chapel
- Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
- Holt Street Baptist Church
- Edmund Pettus Bridge
- March on Washington Movement
- African-American churches attacked
- List of lynching victims in the United States
- Freedom Schools
- Freedom songs
- Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
- "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
- Voter Education Project
- 1960s counterculture
- African American founding fathers of the United States
- Eyes on the Prize
- In popular culture
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
- Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
- Civil Rights Memorial
- Civil Rights Movement Archive
- Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
- Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument
- Freedom Rides Museum
- Freedom Riders National Monument
- King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
- National Civil Rights Museum
- National Voting Rights Museum
- St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument
historians