Editing Cecil B Moore (section)

== Background and Arrival ==

Cecil Bassett Moore was born on April 2, 1915, in West Virginia, serving as a Marine during World War II before earning his law degree and settling in Philadelphia in 1953. His legal practice, focused on representing Black clients in criminal cases, developed the combative courtroom style that his civil rights work would employ. His election as president of the Philadelphia NAACP in 1963, defeating the incumbent leadership with overwhelming support from working-class Black Philadelphians, signaled the aggressive approach that would characterize his tenure.<ref name="wolfinger">{{cite book |last=Wolfinger |first=James |title=Philadelphia Divided: Race & Politics in the City of Brotherly Love |year=2007 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill}}</ref>

His Marine Corps service, which he frequently invoked, provided both the discipline and the combativeness that characterized his activism. His willingness to confront adversaries directly, whether racist employers or cautious NAACP national leadership, reflected a personality that compromise did not suit. The Philadelphia Black community, frustrated by decades of discrimination despite the city's liberal reputation, embraced a leader whose anger matched their own.<ref name="countryman"/>

His transformation of the Philadelphia NAACP from a middle-class organization into a mass movement brought thousands of new members whose activism would challenge discriminatory practices throughout the city. His weekly rallies, his visible presence at protests, and his inflammatory rhetoric energized supporters while alarming critics who feared his methods would prove counterproductive.<ref name="wolfinger"/>