Christmas Night Bomb Assasination of Harry Moore

12 Pages·2012·1.46 MB·English

~ ••" 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
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••'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.