Update 4/28Day 4 & 5 Updates are online:http://alabamaatheist.org/fw2k8/ Photos from Day 4:http://thenafa.org/photos/v/20080426/UPDATE Check out the story herehttp://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080424/NEWS/837335816/1016/NEWS
Bookmark this thread — Ellen will be updating us as she completed the journey here on the NoGodBlog.
Bill Moore announcement My name is Ellen Johnson and on April 23, 2008 I am going on a journey to rewrite history and get some justice for the many Freedom Walkers who were prevented from delivering a letter for racial harmony in 1963. The story began in 1963 with an Atheist named Bill Moore. He was a civil rights activist, author, marine corporal, and graduate from Johns Hopkins University. Bill was a member of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality and SNCC the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1962 the governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnet refused to allow James Meredith, a black man, to attend the University of Mississippi. It was then that Bill Moore decided to try, in his own small way to bring racial harmony to our nation. He wanted to see his home state of Mississippi do the right thing towards blacks. He decided that he was going to hand deliver a letter to Governor Barnett asking him to reconsider his position on segregation. He was going to carry the letter from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. It was a freedom walk. The letter read:
Dear Governor Barnett: I have always had a warm place in my heart for Mississippi, the land of my childhood and my ancestors. I dislike the reputation this state has acquired as being the most backward and most bigoted in the land. Those who truly love Mississippi must work to change this image. Frankly, I do not know which is worse – to be raised to believe that one should be happy to live in poverty and die twice as fast as the white man and to be told to reject the ideas of those who tell you democracy means the right to vote whatever the color of one?s skin; or is it worse to be raised as members of a sort of ?master race? which fights a losing battle to preserve injustice with barbaric laws and police state methods. The British were wise in that they dissolved their empire before they were forced to do so. Consequently, the governments of countries such as India and Nigeria are stable and friendly and democratic. The French, on the other hand, held onto their empire as long as they could. Thus the bitter strife in Laos, Vietnam, Algeria. The end of Mississippi colonialism is fast approaching. The only question is whether you will help it to end in a friendship like the British, or try to hold onto what is already lost, creating bitterness and hatred, as did the French. For our sake, as well as the Negro?s, I hope you will decide to try the British way. The white man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights. Each is dependent upon the other. Do not go down in infamy as one who fought democracy for all, which you have not the power to prevent. Be gracious. Give more than is immediately demanded of you. Make certain that when the Negro gets his rights and his vote that he does not in the process learn to treat the white man with the contempt and disdain that, unfortunately, some of us now treat him.Sincerely,William L. Moore
Bill Moore used his two-week vacation from his job as a postal worker in Baltimore, Maryland and began his walk. He planned to walk 40 miles a day for ten days. He made a sandwich board sign for the walk – in the home of Madalyn O?Hair, who he supported in her Supreme Court case in 1963 called Murray v. Curlett. The front of the sign read: End Segregation In America. Eat At Joe?s – Both Black and White. The back read: Equal Rights For All(Mississippi or Bust) Bill began his walk from Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 21, 1963. Along the way, he was greeted by both friend and foe. Two days later on April 23, a motorist found Moore?s body. He had been shot twice in the head at close range with a .22 caliber rifle. The gun?s ownership was traced to Floyd Simpson, whom Moore had argued with earlier that day. Simpson was never indicted. Bill Moore was murdered because of his Atheism and his politics. A week later ten more Freedom Walkers, both black and white, attempted to finish Bill?s walk. They never made it. They were stopped at the border of Alabama and they were beaten and jailed. They languished in jail for months. They were sentenced to death and fed muffins with crushed glass inside. Four other attempts, involving hundreds of people were made and all were thwarted by the segregationists in Alabama and Mississippi. On August 3, 1963, the fifth and final attempt was made to complete Bill Moore?s walk from Gadsden, Alabama. Six hundred and eighty-two people were arrested attempting to finish the walk of a man they never even knew. Forty-five years later it is time to deliver that letter. Bill Moore did not die in vain. The Freedom Walkers (Sam Shirah, Winston Lockett, Bill Haley, Zev Aelony, Chico Neblett, Bill Hansen, Bob Zellner, Eric Weinberger and Robert Gore to name few) attempts to deliver the letter and their subsequent punishments must not have been in vain. On April 23 I will be in Attala, Alabama where Bill Moore was murdered and I?m going to finish his walk and deliver his letter to the governor of Mississippi. Then the history books will show that the Freedom Walkers were not defeated and that the letter was delivered. It may have been delivered 45 years later, but it was delivered. Thank-you,Ellen Johnson, PresidentAmerican Atheists908-276-7300
Wow, I knew UU ministers were big supporters of ending segregation(as well as xian minsters) but I’m glad to know the name of a man who did it and that was an atheist. Morality without religion
Dave, I know this is OT but…
Ohio Teacher Accused of Burning Crosses on Students
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352207,00.html
Same one that insisted on keeping a bible on his desk and handing out Bibles to students and teaching the meaning of Good Friday and Easter.
Good grief.
Is there any way that others can join?
I would love to be a part of this.
Is Ellen really going to be walking from TN to MS? Good on her.
I can’t help but feel this is a stunt, exploiting the issues of race in order to bring attention to atheism. Call me cynical, but…
The current governor of Mississippi is, unfortunately, Haley Barbour. You’ll be lucky if he sends his lowest-level flunky out to receive the letter.
DD-
I grew up in the Columbus area, and I have to say that I’m embarrassed to be from Ohio, with all the wacky shit that’s going on there. I’m not surprised this is in Mt. Vernon. The name definitely makes it sound nicer than it is.
Concerning this walk, I sure hope they don’t have any problems with any wacko fundies.
Good for Ellen!
More OT matter…
Why do xtians hate America???
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352307,00.html
Good for Ellen! But I wonder if the Governor will refuse to meet her because she is an atheist? And a high-profile one at that?
Karen,
My guess at the excuse by the Governor will be “schedule conflict”.
TX
No doubt.
Ellen and Dave
What a fantastic idea. Let me know what we can do to support you in this walk.
Just a couple points: Ms. Johnson is leaving from Attalla, AL (near Gadsden), the point where Bill Moore was gunned down.
She is not walking alone, but anyone that wants to cheer her on from the curb or also walk along the road must do so on their own — this is not a sanctioned action.
The governor of MS will very likely take the letter, but without fanfare. He would like to forget this event.
And that is where a lot of people can help. Make sure the media knows about this event. Get in touch with NPR or other sympathetic national news outlets, and ask that they follow this story so that Bill Moore and the discrimination against atheists can NOT be forgotten or ignored.
The more that people are aware that she is in the public eye, the less likely it may be that she will be attacked on her journey. The more this is in the news, the more pressure will be put on Barbour to acknowledge the event and the importance of the message.
Just my opinion,
Aaron S.
Assistant Organizer
North Alabama Freethought Association
http://thenafa.org/
I hope she (and everyone else with her) are carrying concealed.
Cool. My respect for Ellen Johnson just went up a few more notches
40 miles a day…? Killed for his atheism…?
Something doesn’t smell right…
Comment from: Rusty Shackleford
Why?
OK now we know that Phreek has been in pathetic physical condition his whole life and/or that he needs a bath.
Phreedm. Haley Barbout:
“Barbour won the Mississippi gubernatorial election on November 4, 2003 (…) While campaigning, he also appeared at a fund-raiser sponsored by the Conservative Citizen’s Council. The CCC is a modern-day version of the White Citizen’s Councils that fought racial integration throughout the South in the 1950s and 60s.”
Is why.
Correction: Barbour
Itchy…so guilty by association?
Hmmm…
So I guess the fact that Governor Ross Barnet was a Democrat is irrelavant…
OT
Karen, can you please drop me an email? The address i have for you is no longer valid. Thanks
Phreedm,
40 days in the wilderness without food…? Resurrected from the dead…?
Something doesn’t smell right…
Talking snake…
Noah’s Ark…
Jonah and the Whale…
Adam and Eve…
Shall I go on?
4-F…
You ask “why?” Haley Barbour is governor…
Because he was elected…
I would like to see some evidence that he was killed for his outspoken disbelief. It seems more likely that he was killed for being against segregation (still a very noble goal).
I wouldn’t be surprised if atheism were a part of the reason he was murdered, but we can’t just go around assuming that.
@alatham, I found that part needing a bit more explaining too.
So I turned to the One True God (Google)
I quickly found that Ellen will be delivering the original letter donated relatives of Moore (already quite an endorsement of the statement) and then I found this article which states:
On the cart, he displayed a poster showing a sketch of Christ. In letters above the sketch was the word ?Wanted.? Below was the caption, ?Jesus Christ ? wanted for sedition, criminal anarchy, vagrancy and conspiring to overthrow the established government.?
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080424/NEWS/837335816/1016/NEWS
Thank you, Hugo, that’s pretty compelling.
More power to you, Ellen and Ken (and anyone else who joins them).
Moore wasn’t exactly subtle, was he?
I don’t like to blame the victim, but he sure did make himself a target. My guess is he planned on being martyred somewhere along the way. That someone obliged him so soon isn’t surprising.
Karen,
Judging by these articles:
http://tinyurl.com/5ujzjl
http://jsr.fsu.edu/Volume7/Neal.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Moore
Moore was no stranger to this kind of activism. Naive, certainly, but I don’t think he was trying to martyr himself: