Harry T. Moore | |
|---|---|
 Undated photo of Moore | |
| Born | (1905-11-18)November 18, 1905 |
| Died | December 25, 1951(1951-12-25) (aged 46) Mims,Brevard County, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Assassination by bombing |
| Occupation(s) | Educator,civil rights pioneer |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Harry Moore on pbs.org |
Harry Tyson Moore (November 18, 1905 – December 25, 1951) was an African-American educator, a pioneer leader of thecivil rights movement, founder of the first branch of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) inBrevard County, Florida, and president of the state chapter of the NAACP.
Harry T. Moore and his wife,Harriette Moore, also an educator, were thevictims of a bombing of their home inMims, Florida, on Christmas night 1951. As the local hospital inTitusville would not treat Blacks, he died on the way to the nearest one that would, Fernald-Laughton hospital inSanford, Florida, about 30 miles to the northwest. His wife died from her wounds nine days later, on January 3, 1952, at the same hospital.[1] This followed their both having been fired from teaching because of their activism.
The murder case was investigated, including by the FBI in 1951–1952, but no one was ever prosecuted. Two more investigations were conducted in the 1970s and 1990s. A state investigation and forensic work in 2005–2006 resulted in naming the likely perpetrators as fourKu Klux Klan members, all long dead by that time.[2] Harry T. Moore was the first NAACP member and official to be assassinated forcivil rights activism; the couple are the only husband and wife to be killed for the movement.[1] Moore has been called the firstmartyr of this stage of the civil rights movement that expanded in the 1960s.
In the early 1930s, Moore had become state secretary for the Florida chapter of the NAACP. Through his registration activities, he greatly increased the number of members, and he worked on issues of housing and education. He investigatedlynchings, filed lawsuits againstvoter registration barriers andwhite primaries, and worked for equal pay for black teachers in public schools.
Moore also led the Progressive Voters League. Following a 1944 US Supreme Court ruling againstwhite primaries, between 1944 and 1950, he succeeded in increasing the registration of blackvoters in Florida to 31 percent of those eligible to vote, markedly higher than in any otherSouthern state.
Harry Tyson Moore was born on November 18, 1905, inHouston, Florida.[3]
Both the Moores completed college degrees atBethune Cookman College, ahistorically black college inDaytona Beach.[4] Both their daughters also earned college degrees at Bethune Cookman College.[4]
In 1934, soon after the birth of their daughters, the Moores founded theBrevard County chapter of theNAACP. Moore also helped organize the statewide NAACP organization.[citation needed] Through his registration activities, he greatly increased the number of members, and he worked on issues of housing and education. He investigatedlynchings, filed lawsuits againstvoter registration barriers andwhite primaries, and worked for equal pay for black teachers in public schools, although they were segregated.
In 1946 both Moores were fired from their teaching jobs because of their activism; Harry Moore was working to gain equal pay for Black public school teachers in the Brevard County segregated school system. Such economic retaliation was widely used in Southern states to discourage activism. Harry Moore accepted a paid position with the NAACP in order to survive economically.
Moore also led theProgressive Voters League. Following a 1944 US Supreme Court ruling againstwhite primaries as unconstitutional (which the Democratic Party had used as another means of excluding blacks from politics), between 1944 and 1950, Moore succeeded in increasing the registration of blackvoters in Florida to 31 percent of those eligible to vote, markedly higher than in any otherSouthern state.[citation needed]
In July 1949, four black men were accused ofraping a white woman inGroveland, Florida. Ernest Thomas fled the county and was killed by a posse; the other three suspects were arrested and beaten while held in custody, forcing two to confess. Rumors accompanied the case against a background of post-war tensions resulting from problems in absorbing veterans into jobs and American society.[5] In Groveland, a white mob of more than 400 demanded that the sheriff,Willis V. McCall, who had hidden the prisoners to protect them, hand theprisoners over for lynching. The mob left the jail and went on arampage, burning buildings in the black district of town. McCall asked the governor to send in theNational Guard, but six days were needed to restore order.
The three young men, one 16 years of age and a minor, were found guilty by anall-white jury. The judge sentenced 16-year-oldCharles Greenlee tolife in prison;Sam Shepherd andWalter Irvin were sentenced to death.
Executive Director of the Florida NAACP, Harry T. Moore, organized acampaign against what he saw as the wrongful convictions of the three men. With NAACP support, appeals were pursued. In April 1951, a legal team headed byThurgood Marshall won the appeal of Shepherd and Irvin's convictions before theU.S. Supreme Court. A new trial was scheduled.
County Sheriff McCall was responsible for transporting Shepherd and Irvin to the new trial venue in November 1951. He claimed that the two men, both handcuffed, attacked him in an escape attempt. He shot them both, and Shepherd died at the scene. Irvin survived hiswounds; he later claimed to NAACP and FBI officials that the sheriff shot both him and Shepherd in cold blood. Moore called for anindictment against Sheriff McCall and called on Florida GovernorFuller Warren to suspend McCall from office.[6]
Six weeks later on Christmas night, 1951, on the Moores' 25th wedding anniversary, a bomb went off beneath the couple's house in Mims, Florida. Both were fatally injured; Moore died on the way to the hospital inSanford, Florida,[4] which was about 30 miles away but was the closest to serve African Americans. His wife died from her injuries nine days later at the same hospital.[4]
Moore has been called the firstmartyr in the civil rights movement. He was the first NAACP official assassinated in the civil rights struggle. He and his wife were the first couple to be killed for civil rights.[citation needed]
The murders caused a national and international outcry, with protests registered at theUnited Nations against violence in the South. The NAACP held a huge rally in New York, and in other cities, too. In many respects, the protests over the Moores' murders were a fore runner of demonstrations during the civil rights movement. The NAACP sponsored a fundraising event atMadison Square Garden, where a song entitled "The Ballad of Harry Moore" was performed, with lyrics by the poetLangston Hughes.[7]
The State of Florida called theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to head the investigation, but the case was never solved and no one was ever prosecuted. The FBI was convinced that theKu Klux Klan had committed the bombing and identified a number of local Klansmen as suspects, but was never able to find enough evidence to bring charges.[8] Eventually, the FBI indicted seven Klansmen for lying about their involvement in other racial violence in the hope that the pressure of the indictments would force some of the Klansmen to crack and testify about the Moore case. However, the ploy did not work, and the indictments were eventually dismissed. The FBI eventually closed the Moore investigation in 1953.
The case has been reopened three times: in 1978 by Brevard County, in 1991–1992 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and in 2005 by Florida Attorney GeneralCharlie Crist. In October 2006, three weeks before winning the Republican primary for governor, Crist held a press conference in Mims and claimed to have "resolved" the case. Although he said that his investigation found no new evidence, Crist identified four Klansmen, then dead, as the likely perpetrators.
In the next few weeks, however, the Crist investigation was roundly criticized by Moore scholars, FDLE investigators, and newspaper editorial boards. It was largely dismissed as a political attempt to win black votes.[citation needed]
When the Moores were killed, the risk to civil rights activists and any blacks in the South was high and continued to be so. According to a later report from the NAACP's Southern Regional Council inAtlanta, the homes of 40 black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some, like Harry Moore, were activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who had refused to bow to racist convention or simply "innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random white terrorism".[9]
For example, bombing was especially prevalent inBirmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s and was used by independent KKK groups to intimidate middle-class blacks who were moving into new neighborhoods.[10]
Florida means land of flowers
It was on a Christmas night.
In the state named for the flowers
Men came bearing dynamite ...
It could not be in Jesus' name
Beneath the bedroom floor
On Christmas night the killers
Hid the bomb for Harry Moore.[7]
Although the story of the Moores' lives receded into obscurity for years, interest in them has been revived in the late 20th century by books, documentaries, and a new investigation of their murders. New memorials have been named or designated in their honor. For example:
The state twice, in 1999 and 2005, returned to the Moore murders but was unable to file charges, since most of the men whom it suspected in the crime had died.
In 1999, journalist Ben Green published a book based on his research of the case:Before His Time: The Untold Story of Harry T. Moore, America's First Civil Rights Martyr. His research had gone deeply into FBI files.[15]Green's book was followed by aPublic Broadcasting Service (PBS) show about Moore's life,Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore (2000).[16]
In 2005,Florida Attorney GeneralCharlie Crist re-opened a state investigation of Harry and Harriette Moore's deaths. The Moores' only surviving daughter, Juanita Evangeline Moore, encouraged Crist in the efforts to uncover the identity of her parents' killers.
Forensics teams combed the former site of the Moores' house for evidence (the site is now within a memorial park). On August 16, 2006, Crist announced the results of the work of the state Office of Civil Rights and theFlorida Department of Law Enforcement. Rumors linking SheriffWillis V. McCall to the crime were proven false.[2] Based on extensive evidence, the state concluded that the Moores were victims of aconspiracy by members of a Central Florida Klavern of theKu Klux Klan (KKK).
The investigators published a report naming the following four individuals, all of whom had reputations for violence, as having been directly involved:[2][17]
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