He and his wife were killed by a bomb under their bed. They are now being honored | Opinion

Mention the name Harry T. Moore to any young person today and most won’t know who you are talking about.

Over the years, a lot was written about Moore and his work to bring about equal rights for Blacks, through his voter registration drives, lynching investigations and the key role he played in building the NAACP in Florida in the 1930s, ’40s and early ’50s.

He focused most of his work in Brevard County in central Florida, as he lived in Mims, a small town near Titusville, where it seems that Moore’s memory had been laid to rest, along with his bombed body.

Then along came Gregory Marquette, who wrote a book, “The Bomb Heard Around the World” (Top Cat II Production Publishing Group ), and film producer Walter T. Shaw. Now, there are plans to memorialize Moore and his wife, Harriette, who were killed after a bomb went off under their bed in their Mims home on Christmas evening 1951.

The tributes include a movie — “The Price for Freedom,‘‘ inspired by the book, with the screenplay written by John DiDonna and Shaw.

There also will be a street-naming on June 19 (Juneteenth) in their honor at the corner of Northwest 27th Avenue and Seventh Street in Broward County.

The filming of the movie will take place throughout the day, with the final scene set for 2 p.m. at Mount Hermon AME Church in Fort Lauderdale, 401 NW Seventh Terrace. Directed by Mario Van Peebles, who stars as Moore in the film, the movie is produced by Shaw and features Aisha Jackson as Harriette.

In addition to the movie, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, part of the Smithsonian, features an exhibit on Harry and Harriette Moore.

As a young girl in my early teens, I was just beginning to understand that the fight for equal rights for Negroes (as we were called back then) was real and dangerous. I remember when the news of the bombing of the Moores happened.

Back then, we could only get the full story by reading the local Black newspaper, The Miami Times, or waiting for the next issue of the weekly Jet magazine. The bombing was meant as a scare tactic, as was a later bombing in the then newly built apartments called Scott Maynor in Miami.

The Maynor development was located east of the Liberty Square Housing Project beyond The Wall, which was built to separate the two neighborhoods. Nobody was injured in the latter bombing, but the message was clear: There would be no turning back. Negroes were willing to fight and die for their equal rights.

I remember the bombing of the Moores’ home, a white wooden house nestled among the orange groves. The bombing was the topic of nearly every grown-up conversation back then. We heard our elders speak of race wars and other such scary topics as the story of the Moores sank in.

Now, finally, someone knows it is not robbery to honor these forerunners of the civil rights battle in a significant way.

The bomb that killed Moore and Harriette exploded while they slept. It had been a quiet Christmas evening in Mims, where Moore, Harriette and one of their two daughters, Annie, had just celebrated the holiday at the home of his wife’s mother. Another daughter, Evangeline, was on her way home by train from Washington to join the family.

Before going to bed, Moore and Harriette spent a few minutes remembering their own 25th wedding anniversary, which they toasted with a piece of leftover Christmas cake.

According to pictures of the Moores’ bomb-shattered house, it looked much like all the other shotgun houses that Blacks lived in.

I knew about shotgun houses because Miami’s Black community near downtown Miami, where we lived when I was a young girl, then known as the Central Negro District, but dubbed Overtown by Blacks, was filled with them. It wouldn’t take a great big bomb to reduce a shotgun shack to splinters.

In Marquette’s account of the bombing, it happened around 10:20 p.m.:

“A thunderous explosion suddenly lifted the Moore house up and off its cinder block foundation. The detonation erupted directly beneath the floor joists under Harry and Harriette’s bed. The bedroom was instantly shredded. Jagged pieces of the roof collapsed into the bedroom as its walls blew apart in jigsaw-shaped pieces which became flying projectiles hurling across the terrain outside.

“The bone-chilling thump of the detonation was heard up to four miles away in Titusville. The concussion awakened sleeping neighbors who lived within a few miles, in all directions. Stunned residents bolted from their homes, fearing some further calamity may strike again at any moment.”

Moore, who was 46, died on the way to the hospital; Harriette, who was 49, died nine days later.

Moore, a graduate of Florida Memorial College, is called one of the first true civil rights activists of the modern civil rights movement in Florida. He organized the first branch of the NAACP in Florida in 1934, the Brevard County NAACP, and would become president of the Florida Conference of NAACP branches.

He formed the Florida Progressive Voters League in 1945, became its executive director and was instrumental in registering over 100,000 Black voters in Florida.

From 1943 until his death in 1951, he also investigated every lynching in Florida, according to the 2001 PBS documentary, “Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore.”

His activism cost him and his wife their jobs as educators. Moore was a teacher and principal in the Brevard County Public Schools from 1925 to 1946; Harriette was a teacher from 1928 to 1946. In 1946, the school district fired both of them due to their civil rights activism. Earlier this year, Brevard Schools passed a resolution honoring the Moores’ accomplishments and noted their “unjust firing.”

From a racist perspective, it was easy to see why bigots wanted Moore dead. He was considered an “uppity N-----” and needed to be put in his “place.” Killing him would also put a stop to this equality foolishness. Not.

While it was, indeed, a bomb heard around the world, what it did was herald in the civil rights movement. If the bombing was meant to stop the progress of equal rights for Blacks, it only gave fuel to the fight.

Since that fateful night in Mims, many more — Blacks, Jews and other whites throughout the South — have died fighting the good fight for justice for all. While today the battle is shrouded in a different garment, the fight for justice continues. It is not a done deal.

Freedom-loving people in America and the world should remember and honor Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriette. To do it on Juneteenth, which, by the way, is Harriette Moore’s birthday, is a double honor. In doing so, we will help keep the flame of justice burning brightly.

Juneteenth Celebration in Broward

All events will be Saturday, June 19

9:30 a.m. Broward Black Elected Officials and the Urban League of Broward County will kick off the Juneteeth celebration at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC), 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale.

11:30 a.m. The Juneteenth Moore Street Memorial Walk from AARLCC to the Harry and Harriette Moore Street Renaming Ceremony, at the corner of Northwest 27th Avenue and Seventh Street.

2 p.m. Filming of the final scene of the film, invitation and press only. For information, call Kim Maroe at 954-232-4510.