This Day in History: 1963-04-23

William L. Moore, postal worker and white ally in the struggle for civil rights, is assassinated while conducting a one-man march from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, to implore Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett to support integration efforts. Mr. Moore was shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle that was traced to Floyd Simpson, a white Alabamian. Mr. Simpson was arrested but never indicted for Mr. Moore’s murder. When activists from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE attempted to finish Mr. Moore’s march using the same route, they were beaten and arrested by Alabama State Troopers. Learn more.