‘Off My Neck’: Former U.S. Marshal for Central Illinois describes barrier-breaking career in new memoir

Robert Moore was born and raised in Mississippi  at a time when the horizons of a young Black man were limited to — as he put it — "the plow and the mule." Moore moved north to Illinois during the Great Migration and later began a career in law enforcement.
 
He started as a sheriff’s deputy in Winnebago County. He moved to the Illinois State Police in 1972 and before too long was helping to run diversity efforts there. Then, in 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Moore the U.S. Marshal for Central Illinois. He was the second African-American to serve in the top job in that district.

Now he’s self-published a memoir, called “Off My Neck.” Recently, he spoke with Illinois Public Media's Kennedy Vincent about his story. A version of this conversation first aired on the IPM show “Dialogue.”

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Robert Moore
Retired United States Marshal, Chief of Police of Jackson, Mississippi, Illinois State Trooper, and author