~ ••" 1 . · MARTYR . FORA . CAUSE By GLOSTER B. CURRENT The Story of the Christmas e Night Bomb Assassination of Harry T. Moore I I r Cour/ny Pittsburgh fourirr· A MOTHER'S GRIEF-Mrs. Rosa A. Moore, m01her of th( martyred Harry T. Moore, hate-bomb victim. "A grief without pang, void, dark and drear; a stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief, which finds no natural outlet, no relief, in word, or sigh, or tear." • How the late Harry T. Moore served his race for many years with a pa•aion for anonymity Martyr for a Cause By Gloster 8. Current Greater lore hath no man their small four-room cottage which than this, that a man lay ties deep in a small orange grove down his life for his friends. owned by the Moores just off U.S. St. John 15:13 Highway No. 1. His mother, Mrs. Rosa A. Moore, :1nd a daug!tter were D ECEMBER twenty-fifth in sleeping in the back of the house. Florida, U.S.A., Nineteen The family was together for the Hundred and Fifty-One brief holidays as was their custom. will go down in history as a night For during most of the year, Moore of infamy. While the world sang traveled extensively for the NAACP carols of "Peace and Good-will", the and his wife, mother and daughter news broke of the horrible bombing were employed by school systems in of the home of Harry T. Moore in other sections of the state. Christmas Mims. The blast shattered more than presents lay unopened in the parlor. the holiday calm. It shocked the en Tbey were to be opened the next tire world into reauzation that mob day after the arrival of another violence, Florida variety, does not daughter from Washington, D.C. stop even on Christmas Night. The The force of the explosion blew -death of Moore at the hands of cow the Moores and their bed to the ardly, unknown, heartless and cruel roof. Hearing the blast, Sgt. George assassins once again pointed up the Sims, brother of Mrs. Moore, carne continuing wide disparity between running from his home nearby and the American profession of demo dug the wounded couple out of the cratic ideals, and the actual practice debris. He drove them in an auto of denial of civil rights in so many moble to the nearest hospital in parts of the nation. Sanford. Moore was pronounced The 46-year-old NAACP leader dead upon arriV'al. His wife, suffer and his 49-year old wife, Harriet, ing critical internal injuries, survived were asleep in the front bedroom of for several days and, after appear ing to be recovering, suffered a re- .. ' ... !* 1 ~ • • ... 1 ~V "II\'\ ~llCt lhL bliJI W OJ liC:I L U) the very local authorities who dur ing his lifetime bad told him he was trying to go "too fast." BASIS FOR TRAGEDY Why did anyone want to kill him? What was the basis of this terrible tragedy? The answer to these questions lies in bis activity with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Florida. Moore, during a seventeen year period of activity with the NAAC1', worked persistently as a volunteer and paid worker for fuiJ equality for Negros in Florida and elsewhere. He served the Association, first as president and organizer of the Brevard coun try branch, 19 34-1939; president of the Florida State Conference, 1941 to 1946; executive secretary of the Conference, 1946, until November 1951, when be assumed the duties of State Coordinator of Branches. Wide World He wore out at least three automo biles covering the state from end to MRS. HARRIET MOORE 1902-January 3, 1952 end. He visited, talked, organized, planned, investigated lynchings, de band. Mrs. Moore had told reporters nials of the franchise, police brutal she had nothing to live for after her ity, held conferences and workshops husband's death. and did the hundreds of little and Moore served his race for many thankless jobs which are the duties years with a passion for anonymity. of an organizer. He was given in death a well-deserv Shortly after the_B revard county ed recognition for his contribution to branch was organized, Edward the advancement of the Negro, a Reeves, one of the charter members, recognition denied him in life. He was killed in an allercation with a. was quiet, soft-spoken, self-effacing. white man. Reeves went to a sawmill No one could have associated him to collect a debt from one George with tbe bombastic. militant type of Holden, Negro witnesses contended crusader who is stereotyped in the that Reeves was struck from be minds of many white Southerners as hind and slain by a piece of timber a "trouble-maker." Some of the in the bands of John L. Conrad, o finest tributes paid him came from bystander. A coroner's warrant from the justice of peace was issued against Conrad, charging him with murder in the first degree and a warrant was also issued against Holden charging him with being an accom plice. Both men posted bond to ap pear before the grand fury, but, as so often happens in such cases, the state's witnesses, mostly Negros, dis appeared. When no .further action was taken at the spring term "of court, Moore got in touch with the NAACP na tional office, which advised the re tention of an attorney. Attorney M. C. McGregor, white, who agreed to help the branch, reported, after sev eral efforts, that his investigation was hampered by indifference on the p;:trt of local authorities and the dis appearance of the witnesses. The murderers of Reeves were never brought to justice. But Harry Wide World Moore kept on fighting and remem bering not only that incident, but HARRY T. MOORE many others about whicll he tried November !8,l905- December 25, 1951 to obtain justice. retary. Because of his militant acti vity with the Brevard county branch ORGANIZES STATE CONFERENCE and the State Conference, he lost his Shortly after the organization of teaching job in 1945. His wife, Har the Brevard county branch in 1934, riet, also was not reappoin.ted and Moore wrote the national office cit failed to secure another teaching ing the need for a state conference post until 1948. to better coordinate the fight against Raising money to finance the state exclusion of Negroes from Democra work was at all times a difficult task tic primaries and for equulization of and the conference was constantly teachers' salari.es. hampered by a lack of funds. As a The conference was formally or result of the inability of the confer ganized in 1941, with Moore as the ence to pay Mr. Moore his salary first state president. It grew from and because of the decline in branch nine branches to a peal< of seventy membership in Florida in 1950 and seven branches in 1947. Realizing 1951, the conference decided it the need for a full time worker, could no longer finance a full-time tltt Si. .. i (' ,f, I .. it 1 fl46 t:- ~-,~cl•tivt> •.ec:r~>tarv Moore was t•k·'t~d Mt.K u. ll;c L\C"<;uli\'~ \.· lbc;Jt fUll• J ( 1'1\ttU I •'<'f <•I Ul .. ll .. b< l 1 Wide Worltl EFFECTS OF BOMB BLAST-Damaged cottage of Harry T. Moore at Mims, Florida. The Christmas night blast completely wrecked the dwelling. at the state meeting which met in ston, then NAACP special council, Daytona Beach, November, 1951, that the state appropriated annually and a new financial program was $800 for each instruction unit, based in process of being developed at on average attendance. "Each county the time of his death. is supposed to supplement this state money to provide a decent salary TEACHERS SALARY CASES for teachers. In one county,. how In 1937, Moore began laying the ever, and in most counties of Flor groundwork for the fight to equalize ida, Negro teachers are not paid teachers salaries, along with Noah oven aU the money the state sends Griffin and other Negro teachers in out for their salaries. Every Negro Florida. Moore wrote Charles Hou- teacher in this county, principals in- Courtesy Pittsb11rgh Courier WALTER WHITE (ce11t1'r), cxccJ!ti-ve secretary of the NAACP, exa.11l1nes ruins of Afoore home 1tlith Paul Perkins (left), Florida NAACP aitomey, a11d Jocal officials. eluded, received Jess than $800 last ACP lawyers in behalf of John Gil year. This and other gross discrim bert, member of the executive com inations exist, even though the state mittee of the Brevard county branch, constitution provides that 'impartial a teacher and principal in the Cocoa provisions shall be made for white Junior High School of Brevard and Negro children'." county, seeking establishment of Moore made contacts with Attor equal salary schedules for white and ney S. D. McGill of Jacksonville, colored teachers. Principal Gilbert, who was retained to fight the cases. holding a second grade certificate He also enlisted the aid of the Flor from the state department of edu ida State Teachers Association and cation and in his eleventh year of Noah W. Griffin. teaching, was receiving a total of On ·f·:,- :t lOJO - r-.-titi"n w~" 'f71R pf'r year White tt>.ar.hinP prin hioo by Altvfllt)' McC.ull oo~m.l 't'/A ~11)'1.11 \ ,c.: ll.'-~lYlllS lat-., \ .)lJOO (ll.c year. This case was the first in the Moore considered voting to be Deep South and was watched keenly "a fundamental pri.vilcgc; and if Ne by other states. groes can just retain lhe right to Florida school boards sought to vote in the primaries of Florida, hinder the NAACP's program by we shall be well on the way toward intimidating the Negro principals solving some of the most serious and teachers through dismissals of problems that have faced us during principals and supporters of tea the past fifty years," he said in a chers' salary cases. Gilbert was dis brief report on the work of the NA missed by the county board of public ACP in Florida at the Southeastern instruction shortly afrer the NAACP Regional Conference in Charleston, filed suit in his behalf. Noah W. South Carolina, March 29, 1947. Griffin, president of the St. Peters burg branch and also president of POLITICAL ACTION the Florida State Teachers Associa When the United States Supreme tion, principal of Cibbs High School Court handed down its decision in in St. Petersburg, was also dismissed the Texas Primary Case in 1944, in June, 1938. Moore and Negro leaders in Florida DECISION AFFIRMED immediately launched a political ac The Supreme Court of Florida tion program. He helped organize atfumed the decision of the lower the Progressive Voters League of court of Brevard county in the Gil Florida in 1944. Its aim, as stated by bert case, denying a writ of manda Moore, was as follows: mus to compel the school board to To get the democratic primary open equalize salaries on the grounds that to Negro voters in every county in there was no statutory provision re Florida; (2) to encourage the masses quiring salary schedules. Despite this of our people to register and vote; ( 3) setback, the fight for equalization to make contact with the various candi continued. dates and to make recommendations to our voters on the basis of the candi In January, 1940, a suit was filed date's recommendations and attitudes. in behalf of Vernon McDaniels, of Escambia county, principal of the Moore was employed as execu Washington High. School. The tive secretary of the new organiza school board made a very weak tion. In this capacjty he sounded answer to the complaint, and, after out candidates on issues, mailed the lower court refused to dismiss questionnaires to candidates seeking the case, negotiated with McDaniels the nomination for important federal and the other plaintiffs wilhout the offices, asking them to make clear knowledge of NAACP attorneys. their stand on issues vital to the The county agreed to equalize the Negro. After careful consideration, salaries gradually until 1943. There the League then recommended can after all salaries would be equal. didates to the Negro voters of the As lJ result of the work of the state. NAACP, the salaries of Negro tea Very often Moore's group was chers in Florida were steadily in presented with a Hobson's choice. creased. for example, in 1946 Moore ex- plained to co-workers the difficulty gram, placing great emphasis on of selecting a candidate to support state's rights-the right of Florida for senator. Many members of the and other states "to control within board expressed the opinion that their own borders such matters as Mrs. Polly Rose Balfe was the most law enforcement, qualification of liberal of the four candidates in the voters, employment practices and field. However, it was the general education." opinion of tbe board that the real race would be between Spessard L. MOORE RfBUnAL Holland and Lex Green. And since In rebuttal, Moore answered his Green bas publicly announced his arguments: intention to "champion the cause of This is the core of our argument. the white democratic primary and Since the days of Reconstruction the of the noble traditions of the white doctrine of 'states rights' has been used south," the board voted to endorse against the Negro in the South. In the candidacy of Spessard L. Hol retaining and exercising the powers land. Holland was elected but did not mentioned above, the southern states prove to be an advocate of civil have been very unfair to Negro citi zens. In cases where whites and Negroes rights. are involved, law enforcement in Flor ida and other southern states is usually CIVIl RJGHTS very one-sided. When the Groveland, Florida, Ne In January, 1950, in identical le1- groes were accused of rape last July, ters to Senators Claude Pepper and a special session of the grand jury was Spessard Holland, Moore called at called, and the men were indicted, tried tention to recent statements by and convicted in short order. Seven President Truman and Democratic months have passed since' a mob of leaders in Congress promising that white people terrorized these innocent civil-rights legislation would be Negroes around Groveland and burned among the first matters considered. three of their homes to ashes, but no He reminded the senators of the special grand jury has been called to investigate these crimes against Negroes. Groveland case and how the Negro These are some good examples of the defendants "were brutally beaten by type of 'law enforcement' that we get local officers but no action has been in southern states when whites and Ne taken on this charge. If local au groes are involved. thorities refused to act on such cases, surely the federal government In the same way he outlined argu should be empowered to come in ments in support of federal civil and mete out justice." Citing the rights Jaws: keen desire of Florida Negro citizens This same unfair situation exists in for the passage of "effective civil the matter of qualification of voters. rights legislation," the senators were The southern states have used. and are still wing, various unfair methods to urged to support civil-rights bills in that session. di.sfr anchise Negro citizens. Even in Florida there are still some counties 11.1 I ll 1";!1• W ... ' ••'M~ I ·~·uul 1111: ·'"' r1a:llt' pr\1- I•J Ill IIJUol Uvu. Alta....,.,.. prise almost half of the population of Florid~ who w.as snatched from his Madison county, not one Negro was mother by three white men on the fust registered to vote there in 1948. No Sunday in January, 1944, during your Negroes were registered in Lafayette, term as Governor [Caldwell] and Liberty, and Hendry counties. drowned in the Suwannee River. The Union county, with 1025 Negroes old parents practically gave their home enou&.~ to vote, bad only one registered. away and left that county. In plain In 1948 a few Negroes in Gadsden words, the odds are staclted so heavily -County insisted on voting against the against Negroes in the South that most 'advice' of the precinct clerk and other of us •go out of our way' to avoid local whites. That same night the home trouble with white people. We often of one of those Negroes was blasted yield our rights and even suffer severe with dynamite, and another Negro had injuries and insults at the hands of to dee with his family to New Jersey. white people in our efforts to avoid No arrests have been made by local racial trouble. Negroes in most states officers. outside of the South enjoy more free dom, ~d they are usual!~, ready to Indicating how cogently he could stand their ground and stnlce back when argue against the reference made by whites attempt to trample their rights. Southerners to race tension in the North exceeding that in the South, M08 VIOLENCE Moore said: Much of Moore's efforts were de The bare fact is that Negroes in voted to the investigation of lynch many southern communities are so ings, mob violence, and police bru thoro11ghly suppressed and intimidated tality. He investigated the lynching by local whites that t~ey are afraid to of Jesse James Payne, October, raise a hand in their own defense. (l 1945. Some indication of the rea make this statement as a Negro who has lived in Florida all of his life.) We son why the NAACP opposed the have had cases where Negroes were appointment of former Governor even afraid to initiate legal action Millard Caldwell, Jr., as Director of against whites who had murdered or Civilian Defense, can be found in m.istreated members of their own fam Moore's report on the Jesse Payne ilies. The grandson of a Negro in my case. Commenting on the failure of home was almost killed by a convict former Governor Caldwell to act, guard a few years ago. When we offered Moore said: to assist the grandfather in having some legal steps taken, his reply was: Frankly we were disappointed at the ·well, rve got to live here with these attitude of our Governor in this matter. white folks. So I guess I better not Either be was not particulary concerned bother with th.at.' When 1e sse James about the murder of a Negro or he Payne was t~ken at gun point from his was unable to fully appreciate the wife and sister by 1hree white men in seriousness of the situation. 1949, 1be Negro family had no thought When Governor Caldwell won a of retaliating or trying to belp him. Their fin;t thought was to try to get suit for damages in a libel action out of Madison county. against Collier's Magazine as a re The same thing was true with the sult of editorial censure of bis al parents of Willie 1a mes How~.~rd, the leged statements and lack of effec 15-year-old Negro boy of Live Oak, tive action in the lynching of 1. J.