Sixty years ago today:
Real-time 1960s

Apr. 23, 1963 - A 35-year-old Baltimore mailman was shot and killed today while hiking to Mississippi to urge Governor Ross Barnett to accept desegregation. The body of William Lewis Moore (pictured), who had pledged to use his vacation to protest segregation in Mississippi, where he had grown up, was found by a passing motorist lying in a ditch in Keener, Alabama. He had been shot twice in the head at close range with a .22 caliber rifle. A letter to Mr. Barnett, asking the Governor to “be gracious and give more than is immediately demanded of you,” was found in his pocket. Authorities said Mr. Moore also carried a billboard sign over his shoulders advocating civil rights. On one side were the words: “Eat at Joe’s, both black and white.” When the body was found, the word “black” had been ripped off the sign. On the other side was inscribed: “Equal rights for all Mississippi or bust.”