Ellen Bryan Moore was a pioneer of women in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 politics, having served in the formerly elected office of "Register of State Lands" from 1952–1956 and 1960-1976. She served during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as a captain in the Women's Army Corps

Women's Army Corps

The Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943...

.

Early years and education

A Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

 native, Moore was the granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin Bryan, a former Baton Rouge mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

, who served during the 1880s. Her father was the warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary until he was dismissed in a dispute with then Governor Huey P. Long, Jr. Moore spent her early years growing up at the manager's residence when the penitentiary was in Baton Rouge, instead of the present site at rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 Angola in West Feliciana Parish

West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 15,111 people, 3,645 households, and 2,704 families residing in the parish. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 4,485 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...

 near St. Francisville

St. Francisville, Louisiana

St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,712 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:St...

. She was frequently in contact with prisoners, who grew the food required to operate the penitentiary.

Moore attended St. Joseph's Academy and the Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 demonstration school in Baton Rouge before she enrolled at Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

 in New Orleans and then the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...

. In 1933, she graduated with teaching credentials from LSU, and in 1950, she obtained a master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in education and psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

. After the war, she taught at Wyandotte and later Bernard Terrace elementary school

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

s in Baton Rouge. Moore established the first soup kitchen

Soup kitchen

A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...

 in Baton Rouge to benefit families of her impoverished pupils. She told an interviewer in 1995 that she had kept up with her former charges years after they had been in her classes.

Women's Army Corps

Moore joined the WACs, headed during the war by Oveta Culp Hobby

Oveta Culp Hobby

Oveta Culp Hobby was the first secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps, and chairman of the board of the Houston Post....

 of Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, a former First Lady of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and the first secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the administration of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

. Moore became a recruiter for the military, having once enlisted three hundred women at one appeal. She worked with pilots in the former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. She commanded a service unit in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 and worked to change the WACs from an auxiliary unit to a military force within the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. While in the military, she met her second husband, D. Haywood Moore (August 21, 19078—June 1986). Moore had been previously married and divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

d. Her husband was supportive of her political career. The two maintained separate finances during their marriage. After teaching, Moore entered the real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 business, from which perch she announced her candidacy for Register of State Lands, an administrative, otherwise nonpolitical, office that was then elected.

Political activities

Moore was a committed Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 and active in the party organization. Though she was in the anti-Long

Huey Long

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...

 faction of the party, she did not support Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 candidates over the years, as had some others in her faction, such as Governors Sam Houston Jones and Robert F. Kennon

Robert F. Kennon

Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon , was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic primary....

, Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana

The Office of Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana is the second highest state office in Louisiana. The current Lieutenant Governor is Jay Dardenne, a Republican...

 C.C. "Taddy" Aycock

Clarence C. Aycock

Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock , a conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in modern Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary...

, and State Senator

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

 Jackson B. Davis

Jackson B. Davis

Jackson Beauregard Davis is an American attorney based in Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in the Louisiana State Senate from 1956 to 1980. Now in his nineties, Davis still practices law and is active in community affairs, often addressing public gatherings...

 of Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

.

In 1948, Moore ran unsuccessfully on the Sam Jones gubernatorial ticket in opposition to Lucille May Grace

Lucille May Grace

Lucille May Grace, a.k.a. Mrs. Fred Columbus Dent, Sr., , was the first woman to attain statewide elected office in Louisiana. A Democrat, "Miss Grace," as she preferred to be called, became Register of the State Land Office in 1931 on appointment of Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr...

, the incumbent register of state lands.

In 1952, Moore won a high-profile election against Mary Evelyn Dickerson Parker

Mary Evelyn Parker

Mary Evelyn Dickerson Parker is a former Democratic state treasurer of Louisiana, having served from 1968-1987. She was the first woman to have held the position. Prior to her tenure as treasurer, she held several appointed positions in state government...

, later the state treasurer

State Treasurer

In the state governments of the United States, 49 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. Texas abolished the position of Texas State Treasurer in 1996....

 and like Moore a committed Democrat active in the party structure. Moore ran in the first primary in 1952 on the unsuccessful Hale Boggs

Hale Boggs

Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. , was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana...

 gubernatorial ticket but switched to the Robert Kennon slate in the runoff election. From 1952-1956, Moore served on the Louisiana Recreation and Parks Commission and was named chairman of the body in 1960 under Governor Jimmie Davis

Jimmie Davis

James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...

. She was a former member of the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women.

In January 1956, Moore was unseated by former Register Lucille May Grace in the statewide gubernatorial sweep by Earl Kemp Long. That fall, Moore worked for the election of former Governor

Governor of Illinois

The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....

 Adlai E. Stevenson to the American presidency through her role as a national party leader in Louisiana and as a member of the board of directors of United Democrats of Louisiana. Her intraparty rival, Governor Earl Long, also endorsed the Stevenson-Kefauver

Estes Kefauver

Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...

 ticket, the first Democratic slate to lose the electoral votes of Louisiana since 1876, with the state instead supporting Eisenhower and Nixon.

Grace died in office in 1957. An appointee filled the post until 1960, when Moore was again elected to the position, along with Jimmie Davis winning his second nonconsecutive term as governor. In the 1960 elections, Moore first defeated the Democrat Fred Columbus Dent, Jr. of Baton Rouge, the son of Lucille May Gray, and then the Republican Anna Wooten Slagle (1903–1992) of Monroe

Monroe, Louisiana

Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...

, a charter member of the Fifth District Republican Women's Club, by a margin of 88-12 percent. Thereafter, she was either unopposed for the post or had insignificant opposition within the Democratic Party. In 1971, she defeated a Democratic primary candidate, James Alan "Jim" Rentz (1933–2011) of Baton Rouge. After John J. McKeithen became governor in 1964, the pro-Long and anti-Long factionalism began to recede, as the state slowly adopted Democrat-Republican interparty competition.

Death and legacy

Moore's office was made non-elective in the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. She is interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge alongside husband Haywood Moore. Both markers refer to the Moores' military service. Her marker does not make mention of her having been Register of State Lands. Moore is included in the Louisiana Secretary of State's "Distinguished Women's Exhibit" in Baton Rouge. She was only the third woman nominated to the LSU Hall of Distinction.

On April 2, 2008, Moore was, along with former Judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 and 1952 gubernatorial candidate Carlos Spaht

Carlos Spaht

Carlos Gustave Spaht, I , was a Louisiana judge best remembered for having lost the Democratic gubernatorial runoff election in January 1952 to fellow Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Spaht's unsuccessful running mate for lieutenant governor...

 and former State Senator J. D. DeBlieux, both also of Baton Rouge, honored posthumously by the annual Louisiana Governor's Prayer Breakfast.