Today, there are nearly 34.7 million African Americans residing in the United States. This pool of African Americans does not include the many other minority races which have emigrated here. To be a black man or woman, living in the Deep South; during the late 1950’s, meant merely existing within a segregated society. To be a lower class white American worker also meant struggling with poverty. Survival meant submitting oneself to an overpowering force. The relentless, inexorable justice of crushing poverty made for the despondent quality of life day by day. Repugnant working conditions combined with low class labor wages was generally the norm. Interestingly enough, the quality of life, during the mid-twentieth century can best be defined as a nation deeply divided by the haves and the have-nots. Martin Luther King Junior’s fight for independence heralded a movement that brought change-a gradual revamping that was desperately warranted. The totality of the human experience reflects the symbiotic prevalence of all human life. Success depends on how well we relate to everything around us. When man and woman of different racial origin interact positively, and effectively, the chains of social discordance and hatred dissolve. It is then that we can better relate and live more peacefully.

The true aspects of segregation pitted citizens of color and non-color apart from each other in a desperate, yet unforgiving atmosphere that permeated society, especially following World War II. People were inclined to go with the basic thought process that existed then for fear of being ostracized. Corruption, homicide, arson, and the lynching of blacks ran amuck. At times, anyone caught defending them was also considered breaking the law. Economic depravity encompassed not only black civilians but poor, less educated white people.

William Moore would always stand up for what he believed in. Once in 1963, he stood in line for a white only movie theater with some black students. They wanted to buy tickets. The police arrived and arrested them for trespassing. William was arrested and he spent the night in jail. Another time he marched by himself in 16-degree in front of a court house, carrying a sign that said “Turn toward Peace.” He walked alone from Baltimore to the state capitol to protest segregation. After he did that he walked to Washington, D.C., to deliver a letter to President Kennedy at the White House. He wanted to deliver a letter to the governor of Mississippi asking him to accept integration. Finally the day came for William to start his walk; it was April 21, 1963. A little while after he had crossed the Alabama state line some people in cars went by. They called him a ‘****** lover’ and threw rocks at him. Just south of Collbran, Alabama, a white store owner named Floyd Simpson heard about him. He found Moore and they stopped to talk. Later, on Highway II, William stopped to rest. While he was resting he was shot and killed. Law enforcement officials were later to prove it was Simpson's gun. Although he was murdered, Moore died for a good cause.
Moore, William. Against The Odds. Jan. 1970 p 212.

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