Harriette Vyda Simms Moore (June 19, 1902 – January 3, 1952) was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

worker. She was the wife of

Harry T. Moore Harry Tyson Moore (November 18, 1905 – December 25, 1951) was an African-American educator, a pioneer leader of the civil rights movement, founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in B ...

, who founded the first branch of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

(NAACP) in

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in Ti ...

. The murder of the Moores was the first assassination to happen during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

and the only time both a husband and a wife were killed for their activism.

Early life

Harriette Vyda Simms was born in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

, on June 19, 1902, to David Ira Simms (a wood lathe worker) and Annie (Warren) Simms. Her sisters were Valerie and Mae, and her brothers were George, Arnold, Rupert, and David Jr. The family relocated to

Mims, Florida Mims is a census-designated place (CDP) in Brevard County, Florida. The population was 7,058 at the 2010 United States Census. Geography Mims is located at (28.668670, -80.847949). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a to ...

. As a youth, Harriette spent summers working in

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...

with her father. She attended the segregated Daytona Normal Industrial Institute in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

. She later graduated from Bethune-Cookman College, a

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

in Daytona Beach, with an

Associate of Arts degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...

in 1941 and a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in 1950. Simms taught

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

classes for many years in

Merritt Island Merritt Island is a peninsula, commonly referred to as an island, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Floridian coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and sout ...

and Mims in Brevard County, and in

Lake Park, Florida Lake Park is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,155 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 8,605. Lake Park is part of the Miami Metropolitan Area Geography ...

until her death. In Mims, she helped to cook

lunch Lunch is a meal eaten around the middle of the day. It is commonly the second meal of the day, after breakfast, and varies in size by culture and region. Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the etymology ...

every day for the pupils. Simms met Harry Tyson Moore while she was teaching classes in

Brevard County Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in ...

. He was then working as principal of the Titusville Colored School. They married on December 25, 1926 and had two

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

s together: Annie Rosalea (known as Peaches, 1928–1972) and Juanita Evangeline (known as Evangeline, 1930–2015). .

Civil rights activism

Soon after the births of their daughters, the Moores founded the

chapter of the NAACP in 1934. Harry Moore later helped to organize the statewide NAACP

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

. In 1946, both Moores were fired by the Brevard County public school system and

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

for their

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

activities.

Murder

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

night, 1951, the Moores were fatally injured at their home in Mims by a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

that went off beneath their house. It was their 25th

wedding anniversary A wedding anniversary is the anniversary of the date a wedding took place. Couples may take the occasion to celebrate their relationship, either privately or with a larger party. Special celebrations and gifts are often given for particular an ...

. Harry died on the way to the hospital in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...

. Harriette died from her injuries nine days later at the hospital in Sanford. Although the state called in the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

) to investigate, no one was indicted for the bombing and murders of the Moores. Renewed attention was brought to the case by a 1999 biography of Moore, describing him as the first civil rights martyr, and a 2000 PBS program about his life and legacy. The Florida Attorney General re-opened an investigation into the murders in 2005, 54 years later. In its 2005–2006 reinvestigation, the

State of Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

concluded that the bombing murder of the Moores had been the work of violent members of a central Florida

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

group and named the four chief suspects, all of whom had died."Crist Announces Results of Harry T. Moore Murder Investigation", 16 Aug 2006
, accessed 6 May 2008 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 Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, the homes of 40 black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some, like the Moores, were activists, but most were either people who had refused to bow to racist convention or 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 reopening of the case provided a new appreciation for their work. In 1999, Florida approved designation of the homesite of the Moores as a

Florida Heritage Landmark Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

. 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

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 The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. The office is one of Florida's t ...

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...

reopened 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 The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

and the

Florida Department of Law Enforcement The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is a state-wide investigative law enforcement agency within the state of Florida. The department formally coordinates eight boards, councils, and commissions. FDLE's duties, responsibilities and ...

. Rumors that 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 A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

by members of a central Florida

Klavern Ku Klux Klan (KKK) nomenclature has evolved over the order's nearly 160 years of existence. The titles and designations were first laid out in the original Klan's prescripts of 1867 and 1868, then revamped with William Joseph Simmons, William J. Si ...

of the

. The report named the following four individuals, all of whom had reputations for violence, as directly involved: * Earl J. Brooklyn, a

Klansman The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

known for being exceedingly violent, was discovered to have had

floor plans In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

of the Moores' home and was recruiting volunteers. * Tillman H. Belvin, another violent Klansman, was a close friend of Brooklyn. * Joseph Neville Cox, secretary of the

Orange County, Florida Orange County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,429,908, making it Florida's fifth most populous county. The county seat is Orlando. Orange County is the central county ...

chapter of the Klan, was believed to have ordered the attack. On March 30, 1952, he committed suicide after he was questioned by the

. * As he lay dying of cancer, the Klansman Edward L. Spivey claimed to have been at the crime scene in 1951, and he implicated Cox in the attack. The Moores' younger daughter, Juanita Evangeline Moore, joined former Attorney General Crist in the efforts to uncover the identity of her parents' killers. She was a 1951 graduate of Bethune-Cookman College and a retired government employee. She died on October 26, 2015, in

New Carrollton, Maryland New Carrollton is a city located in central Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,715. New Carrollton is located east of central Washington, D.C. The Mayor of New Carrollton is Phelecia N ...

.Moody, R. Norman, Juanita Moore, daughter of Brevard civil rights pioneers, dies, Florida Today, October 27, 2015
accessed November 21, 2015

References

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

Civil Rights Movement Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Harriette 1902 births 1952 deaths 1952 murders in the United States Activists for African-American civil rights History of civil rights in the United States History of voting rights in the United States Victims of the Ku Klux Klan People from Mims, Florida Murdered African-American people People murdered in Florida Deaths by improvised explosive device in the United States Racially motivated violence against African Americans Assassinated American civil rights activists People from West Palm Beach, Florida 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people Women civil rights activists Ku Klux Klan in Florida