June 25, 1963
On June 25, 1963, the Philadelphia Tribune reported on a march in the city to honor Medgar Evers, the Mississippi civil rights activist who was assassinated two weeks earlier. The march led by NAACP Philadelphia branch president Cecil B. Moore drew an estimated 4,000 people to Penn Square (click to view PDF of article on march). The Tribune included pictures highlighting that multiple generations of black Philadelphians participated in the march. The protest concluded with a voter registration drive. “We are engaged in this demonstration today as a tribute to Medgar Evers,” Moore told the crowd. “We are going to complete the major activity of his career. Evers was attempting to educate Mississippi Negroes to use the power of the ballot. Let’s all go across the street to the Registration Commission and register to vote.”
