William Lewis Moore - Letters for Justice

William Lewis Moore was a courageous civil rights activist who stood up against segregation by marching alone and delivering powerful letters calling for equality.

Moore was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1927. He grew up in both New York and Mississippi. Not much is known about his early life, but Moore became famous as a civil rights activist who also struggled with mental health issues during his college years at Johns Hopkins University.

Moore's way of fighting for civil rights was different from what most people think of when they picture the Civil Rights Movement. While other activists marched in large groups, Moore usually protested alone. He was a member of an organization called the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), but his most famous demonstrations were solo marches. Moore worked as a substitute postal worker, and he used this job as inspiration for his unique form of protest, one-person marches. Moore staged three separate one-person marches to deliver handwritten letters to important government leaders, including President John F. Kennedy. In these letters, he spoke out against segregation and asked the country's leaders to end Jim Crow laws, which were rules designed to keep Black and white people separated.

During his first march Moore walked 30 miles from Baltimore, Maryland, to the state capital, Annapolis. He wore a large sign around his neck that said, "End Segregation in Maryland" on one side and "Equal Rights for All Men" on the other. His second march took him to Washington, D.C., where he arrived just as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was being released from Birmingham jail. Moore's letter was addressed to President Kennedy, telling him that Moore would be traveling south to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Moore's final and most famous march was from Chattanooga to Jackson, Mississippi. This was nearly 400 miles! He planned to deliver a letter to Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, a man who strongly supported segregation. Moore wanted to convince the governor to accept integration. For this long journey, Moore wore another large sign. One side read "Eat at Joe's, Both Black and White" and the other said "Equal Rights for All (Mississippi or Bust)." He pulled a small mail cart that held a blanket, extra clothes, and was decorated with what looked like a picture of Jesus. But when people looked closer, they saw it was actually a "wanted" poster that read: "Wanted – agitator, carpenter by trade, revolutionary, consorter with criminals and prostitutes." The cart also contained copies of the letter Moore planned to give to Governor Barnett. During his march, he handed out these letters to everyone he met. Some people accepted his message, others were confused, and some got angry and tore up the letters. One of Moore's letters contained these powerful words:
" The White man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights. Each is dependent upon the other. Do not go down in infamy as one who fought the democracy for all which you have not the power to prevent. Be gracious. Give more than is immediately demanded of you.”

On April 23, 1963, during his third day of marching, a reporter interviewed Moore on a rural stretch of Highway 11 in Alabama. Moore explained that he planned to walk to the governor's mansion and hand him the letter personally. The reporter, worried about Moore's safety, offered to drive him to a nearby hotel. Moore refused. About an hour after the interview, Moore's body was found on the side of the road. He had been shot twice at close range. Although no one has ever been officially held responsible for the crime, the gun was traced to a local Ku Klux Klan member who had apparently confronted Moore earlier that day. Southern courts at the time showed little interest in investigating the death of a civil rights worker. Moore's death and activism were not forgotten. In 2010, a memorial plaque was unveiled in his hometown of Binghamton on the 47th anniversary of his death. In 2019, a historic marker was placed at the crime scene.

References:
DeLorenzo, Anthony. “William L. Moore.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/william-l-moore.
Johnson, Miles. “A Postman’s 1963 Walk for Justice, Cut Short on an Alabama Road.” NPR, NPR, 14 Aug. 2013, www.npr.org/2013/08/14/211711898/a-postmans-1963-walk-for-justice-cut-short-on-an-alabama-road.
Palmer, Mykella. “The ‘Mailman Murder’ – the Death of William Moore (Gadsden, Al).” Civil Rights Teaching, Civil Rights Teaching, 13 Oct. 2023, www.civilrightsteaching.org/1963-old/the-mailman-murder-the-death-of-william-moore-gadsden-al.

Key words:
Take Risks for Others, Stand Up for Your Beliefs, Responsibility, Freedom, Conscience, Perseverance, Civil Rights, Justice