Cecil b. moore family

Cecil B. Moore

Civil Rights Activist

(April 2, 1915 - February 13, 1979)

An activist, lawyer, councilmember and sergeant, Moore lived a never-ending fight—one often for social justice and civil rights.

“After nine years in the Marine Corps, I don’t intend to take another order from any son of a bitch that walks,” he once said. And that he didn’t.

Most famously, he led a group of protesters at Girard College in 1965 to push for the school’s integration.

In May of 1963, Moore organized a several weeklong picket line at the Municipal Services Building to fight for desegregated trade unions.

Soon after, he picketed against the Trailways Bus Terminal, demanding that they hire black workers.

Meanwhile, he advocated for more civic engagement from African Americans and held his own voter-registration drives. Though sometimes controversial for his unrelenting style, Moore was a force for change in civil society.

EDUCATION:

• Bluefield College
• Temple Law, L.L.B 1953

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• President of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP 1962-1967
• City Councilmembe
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  The life and legacy of Cecil B. Moore

  6abc remembers the life and legacy of Philadelphia civil rights activist, lawyer, and former Marine Cecil B. Moore. Rick Williams sat down with Moore's daughter, Cecily Banks, and two members from the Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia Freedom Fighters, Karen Asper-Jordan (President) and Vivienne Crawford (member).

  
  
  

  Cecil B. Moore (1915-1979)

  
  
  

  • Cecil B. Moore was a Philadelphia lawyer and civil rights activist who led the fight to integrate Girard College in 1965. He also served as the president of the Philadelphia NAACP from 1963 to 1967. Moore was also a member of Philadelphia's City Council.

  • Born in West Virginia, Moore served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. In 1947, after his discharge at Fort Mifflin, Moore moved to Philadelphia and studied Law at Temple University.

  • Moore is best remembered for leading a picket against Girard College which led to the desegregation of that school.

  • Moore's aggressive manner and confrontational tactics alienated many leaders, black and white, includin
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    Cecil B. Moore

    (1915-1979)

    Who Was Cecil B. Moore?

    Cecil B. Moore was a defense attorney and civil rights activist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through pickets and other protests, he helped to integrate construction sites, post office jobs and schools. He headed the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP from 1963 to '67, though his tenure was marked by conflict with those who disagreed with his bold approach. The outspoken Moore was often at odds with anyone he believed to be too moderate and accepting of incremental progress, making him a controversial figure in civil rights.

    Early Life

    Cecil Bassett Moore was born in Dryfork Hollow, West Virginia, on April 2, 1915, to a doctor father and teacher mother. Growing up in West Virginia, Moore's family was targeted by the Ku Klux Klan at one point because they thought his father, a light-skinned Black man, was actually a white man living with a Black woman.

    Moore graduated from Bluefield State College, a historically Black college, though he took classes at several other schools. He worked as a traveling insurance salesman bef