Harriette Moore
Encyclopedia
Harriette Vyda Simms Moore (June 19, 1902 – January 3, 1952) was an African-American teacher
and civil rights worker. She was the wife of Harry T. Moore
, who founded the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Brevard County, Florida
.
, Florida
on June 19, 1902, to David Ira Simms, (a wood lathe worker), and Annie Warren Simms. Her family also consisted of her sisters - Valerie Simms and Mae Mebane; her brothers included George Simms, Arnold Simms, Rupert Simms and David Simms Jr. The family then relocated to Mims, Florida
. As a youth, she spent summers working in Massillon
, Ohio
with her father. Simms attended Daytona Normal Industrial Institute in Daytona Beach, Florida. She later graduated from Bethune-Cookman College
in Daytona Beach with an associate of arts degree
in 1941 and a bachelor of science degree
in 1950.
Simms taught elementary school
classes for many years, in Brevard County in Merritt Island, Florida
and in Mims at Mims Colored Elementary School, and in Lake Park, Florida
until her death. In Mims, she helped to cook lunch every day for the students.
Simms met Titusville
Colored School principal Harry Tyson Moore while teaching classes in Brevard County. They married on December 25, 1926, and had two daughters, Annie Rosalea (known as "Peaches"), (1928-1972) and Juanita Evangeline (known as "Evangeline"), (born in 1930).
.
.
In 1946, Harriette Moore and her husband were both fired by the public school system and blacklisted due to their political activities.
night, 1951, the Moores were fatally injured at home by a bomb
that went off beneath their house. It was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary
. Harry died on the way to the hospital
in Mims, Florida
. Harriette died from her injuries nine days later.
Although the state called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) to investigate, no one was indicted for the bombing and murders of the Moores. The Florida Attorney General re-opened the investigation 54 years after the murders, at the request of the Moore family. In its 2005-2006 re-investigation, the State of Florida concluded that the murder of the Moores by bombing their home had been the work of violent members of a central Florida Ku Klux Klan
group and it named the chief suspects. There were eleven other bombings against black families in Florida the year that the Moores were killed.
The risk to activists and any blacks in the South was high and remained so; according to a later report from the NAACP's Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, the homes of forty black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some, like the Moores, were activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who had refused to bow to racist convention, or were simply "innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random white terrorism."
In 1999, Florida approved designation of the homesite of the Moores as a Florida Historical Heritage Landmark. Brevard County started restoring the site. Supplemented by independent funding, by 2004 the county had created the Harry T. and Harriette Moore Memorial Park and Interpretive Center at the homesite in Mims. Brevard County named its Justice Center after the Moores and included material there about their lives and work.
In 2005, Florida Attorney General
Charlie Crist
re-opened a state investigation of Harry and Harriette Moore's deaths. On August 16, 2006, Crist announced the results of the work of the state Office of Civil Rights and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
. Rumors which had linked Sheriff Willis V. McCall to the crime were proven false. Based on extensive evidence, the state concluded that the Moores were victims of a conspiracy
by members of a central Florida Klavern of the Ku Klux Klan
. The report named the following four individuals, all of whom had reputations for violence
, as directly involved:
The Moores' only surviving daughter, Juanita Evangeline Moore, joined former Attorney General Crist in the efforts to uncover the identity of her parents' killers. She is a 1951 graduate of Bethune-Cookman College
and a retired government
employee.
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
and civil rights worker. She was the wife of Harry T. Moore
Harry T. Moore
Harry Tyson Moore was an African-American teacher, and founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Brevard County, Florida....
, who founded the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Brevard County, Florida
Brevard County, Florida
Brevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521, making it the 10th most populous county in the state. Influenced by the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard...
.
Early life
Harriette Vyda Simms was born in West Palm BeachWest Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
on June 19, 1902, to David Ira Simms, (a wood lathe worker), and Annie Warren Simms. Her family also consisted of her sisters - Valerie Simms and Mae Mebane; her brothers included George Simms, Arnold Simms, Rupert Simms and David Simms Jr. The family then relocated to Mims, Florida
Mims, Florida
Mims is a census-designated place in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,147 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Mims is located at ....
. As a youth, she spent summers working in Massillon
Massillon, Ohio
Massillon is a city located in Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately 8 miles to the west of Canton, Ohio, 20 miles south of Akron, Ohio, and 50 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. The population was 32,149 at the 2010 census....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
with her father. Simms attended Daytona Normal Industrial Institute in Daytona Beach, Florida. She later graduated from Bethune-Cookman College
Bethune-Cookman College
Bethune-Cookman University or B-CU is a private historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida.- History :Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School in 1904...
in Daytona Beach with an associate of arts degree
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
in 1941 and a bachelor of science degree
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in 1950.
Simms taught 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...
classes for many years, in Brevard County in Merritt Island, Florida
Merritt Island, Florida
Merritt Island is a census-designated place in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located on the east coast of the state on the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2000 census, the population was 36,090. It is part of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area...
and in Mims at Mims Colored Elementary School, and in Lake Park, Florida
Lake Park, Florida
Lake Park is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,721 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 9,080.-Geography:Lake Park is located at ....
until her death. In Mims, she helped to cook lunch every day for the students.
Simms met Titusville
Titusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
Colored School principal Harry Tyson Moore while teaching classes in Brevard County. They married on December 25, 1926, and had two daughters, Annie Rosalea (known as "Peaches"), (1928-1972) and Juanita Evangeline (known as "Evangeline"), (born in 1930).
.
Civil rights activism
Soon after the births of their daughters, the Moores founded the Brevard County chapter of the NAACP, in 1934. Harry Moore later helped to organize the statewide NAACP organizationOrganization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
.
In 1946, Harriette Moore and her husband were both fired by the public school system and blacklisted due to their political activities.
Murder
On ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
night, 1951, the Moores were fatally injured at home by a bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
that went off beneath their house. It was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary
Wedding anniversary
-Official recognition:In the Commonwealth realms, one can receive a message from the monarch for 60th, 65th, and 70th wedding anniversaries, and any wedding anniversary after that...
. Harry died on the way to the hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
in Mims, Florida
Mims, Florida
Mims is a census-designated place in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,147 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Mims is located at ....
. Harriette died from her injuries nine days later.
Although the state called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) to investigate, no one was indicted for the bombing and murders of the Moores. The Florida Attorney General re-opened the investigation 54 years after the murders, at the request of the Moore family. In its 2005-2006 re-investigation, the State of Florida concluded that the murder of the Moores by bombing their home had been the work of violent members of a central Florida Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
group and it named the chief suspects. There were eleven other bombings against black families in Florida the year that the Moores were killed.
The risk to activists and any blacks in the South was high and remained so; according to a later report from the NAACP's Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, the homes of forty black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some, like the Moores, were activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who had refused to bow to racist convention, or were simply "innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random white terrorism."
Honors
Although the story of the Moores' lives faded into obscurity for many years, the late 20th century re-opening of the case provided a new appreciation for their work.In 1999, Florida approved designation of the homesite of the Moores as a Florida Historical Heritage Landmark. Brevard County started restoring the site. Supplemented by independent funding, by 2004 the county had created the Harry T. and Harriette Moore Memorial Park and Interpretive Center at the homesite in Mims. Brevard County named its Justice Center after the Moores and included material there about their lives and work.
Recent developments
The State of Florida twice returned to the case, but was unable to file charges, as most of the men suspected to have been involved 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.In 2005, Florida Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...
re-opened a state investigation of Harry and Harriette Moore's deaths. On August 16, 2006, Crist announced the results of the work of the state Office of Civil Rights and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is a Florida government agency. FDLE is composed of five programs: Executive Direction and Business Support, Criminal Investigations and Forensic Science, Criminal Justice Information, Criminal Justice Professionalism, and the Florida Capitol Police...
. Rumors which had linked Sheriff Willis V. McCall to the crime were proven false. Based on extensive evidence, the state concluded that the Moores were victims of a conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
by members of a central Florida Klavern of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. The report named the following four individuals, all of whom had reputations for violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, as directly involved:
- Earl J. Brooklyn, a Klansman known for being exceedingly violent, was discovered to have had floor planFloor planIn architecture and building engineering, a floor plan, or floorplan, is a diagram, usually to scale, showing a view from above of the relationships between rooms, spaces and other physical features at one level of a structure....
s of the Moores' home and was recruiting volunteers. He died about a year after the attack, apparently of natural causes.
- Tillman H. Belvin, another violent Klansman, was a close friend of Brooklyn. He also died about a year after the attack, of natural causes.
- Joseph Neville Cox, secretary of the Orange County, FloridaOrange County, FloridaOrange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 1,145,956....
chapter of the Klan, was believed to have ordered the attack. In 1952 he committed suicide after being questioned by the FBI.
- As he lay dying of cancer, Klansman Edward L. Spivey claimed to have been at the crime scene in 1951, and he implicated Cox in the attack.
The Moores' only surviving daughter, Juanita Evangeline Moore, joined former Attorney General Crist in the efforts to uncover the identity of her parents' killers. She is a 1951 graduate of Bethune-Cookman College
Bethune-Cookman College
Bethune-Cookman University or B-CU is a private historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida.- History :Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School in 1904...
and a retired government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
employee.
See also
- Harry T. MooreHarry T. MooreHarry Tyson Moore was an African-American teacher, and founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Brevard County, Florida....
- Civil rightsCivil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)
- African-American history
- Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinationMartin Luther King, Jr. assassinationMartin Luther King, Jr., a prominent American leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39...
- 16th Street Baptist Church bombing16th Street Baptist Church bombingThe 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The explosion at the African-American church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the U.S...
, which resulted in the deaths of four young African-American girls
External links
- Harry T. and Harriette Moore Homesite
- 2006 Press Release announcing results of Harry T. and Harriette Moore murder investigation, Office of the Attorney General of Florida
- 2006 Harry T. and Harriette Moore Murder Investigation Details, Office of the Attorney General of Florida
- Florida House Speaker Byrd's 2004 tribute to the Moores
- Murder of Harry & Harriette Moore: Civil Rights Movement Veterans