Acel Moore (October 5, 1940 – February 12, 2016) was a long-time reporter, columnist, and editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Moore won a Pulitzer Prize in 1977. He was among the first Black journalists hired at the Inquirer.[1]
Moore and his twin brother were born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] He attended Overbrook High School in 1958 and then served for three years as a medic in the United States Army until 1962.[3] [4]
Moore started as a copy boy at the Inquirer in 1962. He was promoted to reporter in 1968.[5]
In 1977, Moore and Wendell Rawls, Jr., also of the Inquirer, won a Pulitzer Prize in Local Investigative Specialized Reporting for reporting on the conditions at Farview (Pennsylvania) State Hospital for the mentally ill.[6]
Moore, Chuck Stone of the Philadelphia Daily News, and Claude Lewis of the Evening Bulletin co-founded the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists in 1973.[7] He was later a co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
In the 1970s, Moore also was a producer on a PBS show called "Black Perspectives on the News."[8] He taught journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, Temple University, and Florida A & M University.[9]
The Nieman Foundation at Harvard University called him "a champion of newsroom diversity."[10] According to Michel Martin of National Public Radio, Moore served "as a mentor to hundreds of journalists, both informally and with programs to introduce people of diverse backgrounds to journalism careers."[11]
In 2005, Moore retired. He received a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2011.[12]
He married Linda Wright.[13] They had two children, a daughter (Mariah) and a son (Acel Jr). Acel Sr. died on February 12, 2016, and was interred at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[14]
The Philadelphia Inquirer annually runs the Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop. According to the Inquirer, the "hands-on program seeks to introduce Philadelphia-area high school students to the fields of print, digital journalism, and photography.[15]
When the School District of Philadelphia renamed the Andrew Jackson School (Philadelphia), one of the four finalists for the new name was the Acel Moore School.[16] It was not chosen as the new name.