August 16, 2006 – KKK Found Responsible for Deaths of Civil Rights Activists Harry and Harriette Moore 55 Years After the Fact

Harry Moore was an African-American educator, a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, and founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Brevard County, Florida in 1934. He investigated lynchings, filed lawsuits against voter registration barriers and white primaries, and worked for equal pay for black teachers in public schools. Perhaps most objectionable to whites in the area, as Executive Secretary of the Progressive Voters League, Moore helped break down registration barriers and was responsible for the registration of tens of thousands of black Americans throughout Florida. In 1946 he and his wife were fired from the public school system because of his activism; he then worked full-time for the NAACP.

Family photo of Harry T. Moore, right, and wife Harriette, Ft. lauderdale, late 40s.

On Christmas eve in 1951, which was also Harry and his wife Harriette’s 25th wedding anniversary, members of the Ku Klux Klan exploded a bomb in their home under their bedroom, killing them both.  No arrests were made.  Over the years, there were rumors that the notoriously racist Sheriff McCall was involved in the Moore bombing, but no evidence was ever found of that. This was the first killing of prominent civil rights leaders and it was one of the sparks igniting the modern civil rights movement.

The case was reopened three times: in 1978 by Brevard County, in 1991 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and in 2005 by then Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist. In October 2006, three weeks before he won the Republican primary for governor, Crist held a press conference and claimed to have “resolved” the case. Although he admitted that his investigation found no new evidence, Crist named four dead Klansmen as the likely perpetrators.

“Charlie” Crist Jr. , now U.S. Rep for Florida’s 13th congressional district, and previously both Atty General and Governor of Florida

In the next few weeks, however, the Crist investigation was widely criticized by Moore scholars, FDLE investigators, and newspaper editorial boards, and was largely dismissed as a political attempt to win black votes.

In 1952, Moore was posthumously awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, for outstanding achievement by an African American.

The poet Langston Hughes wrote a ballad in honor of Harry Moore; you can read it here.

You can also order a copy of the PBS documentary on the legacy of Harry Moore, narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and featuring the music of Sweet Honey In The Rock and Toshi Reagon.

Harry T. Moore circa 1934