Douglas E. Moore

Who is Douglas E. Moore?

Douglas E. Moore is a Methodist minister who organized the 1957 Royal Ice Cream Sit-in in Durham, North Carolina. Moore entered the ministry at a young age. After finding himself dissatisfied with what he perceived as a lack of action among his divinity peers, he decided to take a more activist course. Shortly after becoming a pastor in Durham, Moore decided to challenge the city’s power structure via the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in, a protest in which he and several others sat down in the white section of an ice cream parlor and asked to be served. The sit-in failed to challenge segregation in the short run, and Moore’s actions provoked a myriad of negative reactions from many white and African-American leaders, who considered his efforts far too radical. Nevertheless, Moore continued to press forward with his agenda of activism.

Ultimately, however, Moore’s plan of using the sit-in to challenge Durham’s power structure proved successful. A new wave of young African-American students, inspired by the actions of the Royal Ice Cream protestors, adopted Moore’s agenda, helping to bring about the desegregation of the city’s public facilities.