Fact #84055

Postal worker William Moore, known for staging lone protests against racial segregation, is murdered on a rural stretch of Highway 11 near Attalla, Alabama, USA. He had been planning to deliver a letter of protest to the Mississippi Governor's mansion but instead he was shot twice in the head at close range with a .22 caliber rifle owned by a certain Floyd Simpson, with whom Moore had argued earlier that day. No charges were ever laid against Simpson. Several songs will be inspired by Moore's death, including William Moore, The Mailman by Pete Seeger [1963] and William Moore by Phil Ochs [1964].