The Blackman Who Reads Aloud Hour Project
Reading About​ The ​Life Of Amazing Amzie Moore
One Of America's Most Fearless Men

Today would've been the 108th birthday of Amzie Moore. This amazing Blackman who absolutely turned the state of Mississippi on its heels. Mr. Moore almost singlehandedly kept the dream of voting and freedom alive in the Mississippi Delta. He was fearless, strategic, and relentless in his drive to bring down the inequalities that existed for Blacks in the State of Mississippi.

Not many people in our nation had the inner desire for democratic change that energized Amzie Moore. That is why it is imperative that we understand his importance and honor his life's contributions. As I read and remember Amzie Moore on the day of his birth, September 23, 1911. I do so with pride that men like Amzie Moore existed because without these warriors. Our black communities could still be facing enormous barriers.

So on this Monday, I ask only that all who listen to my voice simply give a moment of reflection to the life sacrifices of Amzie Moore. That we all search within ourselves for the same energies that drove Amzie Moore. So that one day all racial hatred and inequality will be erased from this nation.​

First just a little background on the race riot that white mobs started on September 22nd and continued the murder and mayhem against African Americans in Atlanta until September 25, 1906. More than 40 black souls were murdered during that 3-day​ rampage by white mobs on black citizens in Atlanta. After reading a background piece on the Atlanta Race Riot. I will read Dr. W.E.B. Dubois's famous​ poem "The Litany of Atlanta". Dubois experienced the race riot personally and it changed his life exponentially​. It was the race riot that many feel motivated DuBois to move north. In addition to DuBois, Walter White then about 13 years old viewed the race riot from his parent's balcony. Both men ended up working for civil rights for the African Americans with the NAACP​.

Eulogy For The Young Victims 
of The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing

by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
September 18, 1963, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama

Three days after the bombing that murdered four little girls on that fateful Sunday, September 15, 1963, at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Dr. Martin Luther King stood at the pulpit speaking these passionate words not only to those at the church and the literally thousands who stood outside the church. Dr. King spoke directly to the nation about how these murders were not acceptable to in any way, shape, or form. Dr. King indicted the silence that seemingly accepted the violence perpetrated against innocent blacks simply seeking what was rightfully theirs to have, equality.

Today, 56 years from the time this eulogy was delivered the memories of those 4 martyred little girls still resonate in this nation. A nation still is split along the racial faultline of hatred and inequality. Please listen to The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project read Dr. Martin Luther King's memorable eulogy given on that Wednesday following this most heinous of racial crimes against humanity. We should never allow the life sacrifices of Addie, Denise, Cynthia, and Carole to ever be forgotten. It was their murders that motivating this nation to look deeply into the eyes of bigotry and hatred with the hopes of blinding those eyes eternally.​


[Delivered at funeral service for three of the children -
Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley - killed in the bombing.
 A separate service was held for the fourth victim, Carole Robertson.]

The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project
Thank God He Didn't Sneeze
September 20, 1958
Blumstein's Department Store
Harlem, New York

On this day 62 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a deranged black woman Izola Ware Curry with an ivory-handled​ ​letter opener that rested almost on the edges of his aorta. It was said by the operating surgeon that had Dr. King merely sneezed he would've drowned in his own blood. Today, The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project reads about that fateful event that almost changed the path of this nation. A simple sneeze and Dr. King at 29-years of age wouldn't have been around to change this nation's path towards some semblance of equality. I also will spend a few moments reading the words Dr. King spoke on April 3, 1968,​ as he remembered that incident in the Harlem Department store.​