Thread by @ZinnEdProject

#tdih 1951 Home of Harry T. and Harriette Moore in Mims, Florida was bombed by Klan — killing them both on their silver wedding anniv. #Terrorism

Parents and teachers, the Moores organized w/ @naacp for voting & labor rights and against lynching. 🧵 ⬇️.
zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/moor…

In the 1930s, Harry and Harriette Moore began organizing for the @NAACP in central Florida. They launched a legal struggle that eventually won equal pay for Black and white teachers.

In 1941, Harry Moore became President and later executive director of the Florida state @NAACP. Under his leadership, the NAACP eventually grew to more than 10,000 members in more than 60 branches across the state.

After the "Smith v. Allwright" SCOTUS ruling on primaries, the Moores registered more than 100,000 Black voters, increasing Black registration from 5% to 31% of those eligible.

Their slogan was “A Voteless Citizen is a Voiceless Citizen.”

Harriette Moore taught with books she kept hidden under her desk by/about W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora N. Hurston, Langston Hughes, & more.

She appointed a student as look-out so if School Sup't. came, he wouldn’t catch them.
Read book ⬇️
zinnedproject.org/materials/fugi…

In addition to voter registration and teaching, the Moores investigated lynchings, including Groveland Four case. Moores demanded that the Sheriff (who killed one of the defendants) be suspended from office and indicted for murder.
See @BlackPastOnline ⬇️
blackpast.org/african-americ…

On Christmas Day 1951, their silver wedding anniversary, a bomb planted by the Klan exploded under the Moores' bedroom. He died on the way to the hospital, she died of her injuries nine days later. They were survived by two daughters.

We recommend the documentary "Freedom Never Dies" from @DocuEd about the Moores, with Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Bernice Johnson Reagon, and more.

See: store.der.org/freedom-never-…

Photo: bombed home of the Moores.

When will men for sake of peace
And for democracy
Learn no bombs a man can make
Keep men [and women] from being free?. . .
And this he says, our Harry Moore,
As from the grave he cries:
No bomb can kill the dreams I hold,
For freedom never dies!
— from ballad by Langston Hughes

The Moores' story is one of countless in the long history of white supremacist violence against voting, human, education, & economic rights and justice.

Below is a lesson on history of voter suppression. Also see our lesson on reparations. Read & share.
zinnedproject.org/materials/teac…