William Moore

By Phil Ochs

Am
Walkin' down an Alabama road
Rememberin' what the Bible told
D           G      D  Am
Walkin' with a letter in his hand
D          G  D       Am
Dreaming of another southern land
Am
Walkin' down an Alabama road

And he went by the name of William Moore
Now what are you doing William Moore
D     G             Am
Why the letter in your hand?
D         G           Am
There's only one southern land
And he went by the name of William Moore

Am           Em    Am
What price the glory of one man?
C                        F
What price the glory of one man?
C           Em
What price the hopes,
F           G
What price the dreams,
    C         F       G       C
And what price the glory of one man?

Remembering what his grandfather done
Fought for the south in '61
A hundred years have passed by since then
Now Moore is fighting for the south again
Remembering what his grandfather done

Remembering the time in World War Two
And the South Pacific Island that he knew
Remembering the young men that he killed
And the praying that the guns of hate be stilled
Remembering the time in World War Two

What price the glory of one man?
What price the glory of one man?
What price the hopes,
What price the dreams,
And what price the glory of one man?

And they shot him on the Alabama road
Forgot about what the Bible told
They shot him with that letter in his hand
As though he were a dog and not a man
And they shot him on the Alabama road

Did you say it was a shame when he died?
Did you say he was fool because he tried?
Did you wonder who had fired the gun?
Did you know that it was you who fired the gun?
Did you say it was a shame when he died?

What price the glory of one man?
What price the glory of one man?
What price the hopes,
What price the dreams,
And what price the glory of one man?

Notes:

William L. Moore was born on 28th April 1927 in Binghamton, NY and died on 23rd Sept 1963 in Etowah County, AL.

He planned in 1963 to walk from Chattanooga, TN to Jackson, Miss. and deliver a letter protesting the state of race relations to Gov. Ross Barnett.

In Etowah County, Alabama as he walked along a remote strech of U.S. Highway 11, he was shot and killed on the evening of the 23rd of Sept. 1963. Both JFK amd Gov. George Wallace publicly condemed the crime. Two people were questioned, but the murder went unpunished. Moore's letter was found and opened with the Moore reasoned that "the white man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights." (pp. 365-366 Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights, ed. by Charles D. lowery and John F. Marszalek).

(submitted by James Holley (HolleyJF@westminster.edu))

william moore was a white postman, unaffiliated with any specific civil rights group (as far as i know) who decided to take a letter down south (to the gov. of mississippi, perhaps--not certain about that)...he was just going to walk down and was killed along the way (somewhat like goodman, chaney and schwerner)--the story was picked up by the national media and one of the student civil rights groups (SNCC maybe?) decided to finish his walk.

that's it at least as far as i can recall...

-- lapis@pobox.upenn.edu (dave cohen)

William Moore was a white mail carrier who staged lone protests against racial inequality. In the North, he engaged in a pair of "one-man marches," in which he hand-delivered letters he had written denouncing segregation; one to the MD State Capitol in Annapolis, and one to The White House. For his third march, he intended to walk from Chattanooga, TN to Jackson, MS to deliver a letter to Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett in which he urged the Governor to accept integration. He wore signs with pro-equal rights slogans and marched alone with his letter all the way to Colbran, Alabama, where he was murdered while sleeping alongside the highway, killed by bullets fired at close range by a .22 caliber rifle. Although the gun's owner was traced (his name, for the record, was Floyd Simpson--a man with whom Moore had earlier that day argued about racial equality), no arrests were ever made. Unless you count the arrests of some students who tried to continue Moore's "one-man march" after his death.

Submitted by John King.

Melissa Haber/ Ezra Glenn contributed this excerpt from Taylor Branch's Parting The Waters, p. 748.

"As King was leaving [the Birmingham] jail..., a white postman from Baltimore was presenting himself at the White House gate with a letter notifying President Kennedy that he intended to take ten days' vacation to walk all the way from Chattanooga to Mississippi wearing two signboards, END SEGREGATION IN AMERICA and EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL MEN. 'If I may deliver any letters from you to those on my line of travel, I would be most happy to do so', offered the postman, William Moore....

Moore had covered some seventy miles by Tuesday evening, when a reporter from radio station WGAD in Gadsen stopped him in the road for an interview. Asked his purpose, Moore said, `I intend to walk right up to the governor's mansion in Mississippi and ring his door bell. Then I'll hand him my letter.' the letter was a civil rights plea asking Barnnett to "Be gracious and give more than is immediately demanded of you...."

The reporter left Moore on a remote stretch of US Highway 11, near Attala. A passing motorist discovered the body a mile down the road, shot twice through the head at close range."