HUNTSVILLE Ala.
A U.S.
marshal tired of seeing blacks portrayed as perpetrators or victims hopes to
change that image with a traveling exhibit that details the history of blacks
serving as U.S.
marshals and in other law enforcement posts.
Robert Moore, one of 22 blacks appointed as a U.S.
marshal by President Clinton, the most of any president, said he wants younger
blacks to know they can seek similar careers.
“When I got appointed in ’94, I discovered that we had
all been left out of the marshal service history books,” Moore
said. “This is why I came along 117 years later and put this exhibit
together and to educate America.”
The exhibit, “The President’s Men: Black United States
Marshals,” is on display at Alabama A&M’s State
Black Archives Research
Center and Museum until July 23.
Moore told The
Huntsville Times in a story Monday that he thought the location was perfect
because of Alabama’s history of
black U.S.
marshals. He served with two black presidentially appointed U.S. marshals from
Alabama.
Moore wants college students to aspire to become law
enforcement officers and see themselves as leaders.
“We were quite pleased to hit the black college
circuit,” he said. “We’re trying to change the dialogue on black
Americans and the criminal justice system, one exhibit at a time.”
The exhibit includes details of Moore’s career as a U.S.
marshal and law enforcement officer in Mississippi. It also features famous
U.S. marshal Frederick Douglass, an 1877 U.S. marshal better known for his work
as an abolitionist.
Information from: The Huntsville Times,
http://www.al.com/hsvtimes/hsv.html
– Associated Press
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