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Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rascha Pecerrero.
And i am Evet gent Lay. And today we are delving into a little known but important event of the civil rights movement. It's a murder of two of the very first people actively fighting for change, and to this day there's been no justice. We're talking about Harry and Harriet Moore.
Yes, and we will be joined by two members of the Harry T. And Harriet Vmore Cultural Center, and they'll talk with us about the Moores and the fantastic work that their organization is doing. But first, our producer Trevor is going to take us through today's case. To say the Moore's work was dangerous does not begin to describe the risks they ran in the Jim Crow.
South FBI investigations pointed to the KKK for the murders, but no one was ever charged.
There was a reluctance on the pod of top officials in the FBI to upset people in the South by going overboard to find the killos of this Negro organizer, as he was called.
Harry and Harriet Moore were civil rights pioneers who were killed on Christmas of nineteen fifty one. Harriet was an elementary school teacher and Harry was the school principal. In addition, Harry started the Brevard County chapter of the NAACP in
nineteen thirty four. He also found the first lawsuit in the Deep South to make black and white teacher salaries equal, and later, after becoming president of the state NAACP, he launched investigations into police brutality and every lynching that took place in Florida. The work was dangerous, but Moore knew this and famously said, quote I'm going to keep doing it even if it cost me my life end quote.
Local white authorities had taken notice of the Moore's work in the community and they didn't like it, especially so when Harry Moore organized a campaign against the wrongful convictions of three young men who had been found guilty of rape of a white girl by an all white jury. After the accused rape, local Sheriff Willis McCall formed an armed posse that found and shot one of the accused
men hundreds of times. Despite a lack of evidence, a jury quickly convicted the other three men who were still alive. One was sentenced to life in prison, the other two to death. A legal team led by Thirdgood Marshall, won an appeal in the u. S. Supreme Court against the convictions of the two who were sentenced to death, and a new trial was scheduled, but before it could take place,
Sheriff McCall shot the two men himself. In November nineteen fifty one, Harry Moore called for an indictment for murder against Sheriff McCall and called on Florida Governor Fuller Warren to remove him from office, but then six weeks later, on Christmas Day, a bomb exploded in the Moor's home, killing the couple. Between nineteen fifty one in two thousand eight, there were five investigations into the murder. The early ones were quashed or died out. However, evidence gathered and refined
over sixty years points to four suspects. One was Earl Brooklyn, a leader in the k k K with a reputation for violence, but he died in nineteen fifty two. Another suspect was his partner, Tillman Belvin, who also died in nineteen fifty two. The third suspect's name was Edward Spivey. He had detailed knowledge about the Moor's family home, but denied ever being involved, and in nineteen seventy eight, while on his deathbed, Spivey named the fourth suspect, Joseph Cox.
Joseph Cox was a secretary of the local KKK. Spivey said Cox had been paid five thousand dollars to plant the bomb and had used that money to pay off his mortgage. This was backed up by bank records which showed he'd satisfied the mortgage just four days before the bombing. But one day after his second interview with the FBI in nineteen fifty two, Cox took his own life, and
so all the suspects are now dead. The tragic deaths of Harry and Harriet Moore made them the first people to be killed as part of the civil rights movement that would explode in the following decades, yet their name do not appear among the forty names listed on the Granite Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and their story is rarely taught in history books. And so who were Harry and Harriet Moore? Who was responsible for their murder?
And how does their story demonstrate the long and tireless battle for civil rights predating even the fifties and sixties.
Alrighty, well, welcome back to Facing Evil. We have got some very very special guests here today and they're going to be talking about the life and legacy of the Moors. The Harry T. And Harriet V. More Cultural Center is a memorial and learning space in Mims, Florida, and it's dedicated to preserving the memory and civil rights contributions of the Moors. We have Sonia Mallard who is the Cultural Center coordinator, and we have Kashanda Wright, she is the
Cultural Center leader. We are so blessed and so honored to have both of you beautiful ladies with us here today on Facing Evil.
Thank you, We're happy to be here very much.
So how did both of you first learn or get involved, you know, with the Moore's Cultural Center.
Yes, I first learned about the Moors. After I moved from New York to the state of Florida, right, and my husband and not our children. We lived here for a while, and you know, life happens. So we came down and take care of my husband grandmother, and I was doing chemo at the time. And afterwards I met Cassandra,
and I found out about this place. I used to come here and just look around, and I was just so intrigued and so amazed, and I couldn't believe how did I never hear or learn about this man and this family? And I was right right right, So I just found to be a jewl like a gym, and I was just so fascinated. I don't think I ever left.
Wow, And what about you, Krishanda.
So I learned about the Moores when I was doing this project in school, and it was just two lines. We had to pick a person who we admired and tell why we admired them, and I happened to pick Thurgrid Marshall. But when you're researching history, it just says two lines about the Moors. It says that he went and greeed for two weeks for his friends Harry and Harriet Moore and you just that's it.
That's all I said.
It didn't give you any explanation of who they were, what they were, what it was about, or anything. So fast forward, I was working at the library in Titusville and they were asking people if they would like to help because they were putting the information together about the Moors Center. And they were like, we need people to come and work, and so I was like, oh, that'll
be something, let's do that. And so I started doing it and we got the information together and we were helping to put the information on the wall, and the lady let us know that they would be interviewing for jobs. And since I already knew the information, there was no reason for me not.
To interview for the job. And I happened to get it. So that's how I got involved.
And here we are, and here we are. You know, that's interesting what you said, Sonya, because when we were doing the case, I was thinking the same thing. How did we not know about Harry and Harriet Moore? And I even called my cousin who went to Tuskegee University, and I was like, were you taught this in college? And she said no, Like she started googling on her phone and she's like, I can't believe that I've never
heard this story like ever. So it's just it's, you know, more people, the more we talk about it, more people need to know about the Moors and their legacy. Can you tell us your perspective on the impact that the Moors had on the civil rights movement? I mean, when you think about this, this was even before doctor King, right.
Yeah, I usually felt like history was erased yet again. So given speaking engagements, I like to always start off by saying, he was the most hated black man in the state of Florida. Right, he was before I had a dream today, doctor King. He was even before a boy any means necessary. How nobody ever really heard of him? I like to think it's because it was before Brown
versus the Board of Education, it was before television. But the impact that the Moors really had on the civil rights movement was explosive as the bomb that was placed underneath the bedroom floor, right. The impact it ripped the legal struggle that was eventually one for equal pay with black teachers with the help of WACP attorney Thurgood Marshall in nineteen thirty seven. You know, Harry fouled the first lawsuit in the South, Caller for black teachers and white
teachers that make the same amount of pay. Their impact was so explosive that black men and women started to raise their heads right. They stopped looking down and feeling hopeless and helpless, but proud. They were proud that they impact shattered feelings of despair. But they gathered blacks throughout the state of Florida, starting the NAACP throughout the state. See Harry T. Moore. They understood the assignment and they knew collectively we were more powerful. Together were powerful and.
Wow. So why do we think.
That Harry and Harriet were left out of the history books?
Well, there are two folds.
One is that in nineteen fifty one when mister Moore from the nineteen twenties, late twenties to nineteen fifty one, when he was really doing his activism, it was during the time of radio. Well, in nineteen fifty two we get television and everything becomes about television. We have no recording, we have no visual and so his story kind of gets lost because now we're no longer getting our news from radio, We're getting our news on television.
So that's one reason.
And two, I think that it's like one of those things where people want to act like it didn't happen, because mister Moore really was the forerunner to how the civil rights movement was going to progress. He was doing the things at a time when it was very dangerous for him to be doing them because he could have
gotten lynched, his family could have been killed. And so I think that once it happened and he was killed, although he was a catalyst for other people to start doing it, they kind of wanted to keep that quiet about what happened because of fear. I mean, it's a small town. People are fearful that someone might come back. They're fearful that they might go after his relatives or her relatives.
So you know, in a small town you have to that fear.
Over oversteps all the things that people really want to say and wanted to but they're so afraid.
They were good.
Yeah, I can understand that.
Yeah, that makes I mean, that makes a lot of sense. And you know, fear can overtake everything, you know, But thankful for people like Harry and Harriet that persevered. We always need those people who stay diligent to the end, you know, till the unfortunate end. Can you tell us how the Moors Cultural Center works to change that? Tell us what the mission statement is?
Well, I like to say our mission is simple, right, So we work under parks and recreation in the county, so we're like twofold. And then we have a board of directors, so we have a couple of mission statements. But I think what's so important is that our mission, with Cassandra and I running this center here is simple. We share the legacy of the Moors right. Our story is shared between the era of eighteen sixty the Emancipation Proclamation to nineteen sixty four, the Civil Rights Voting Act.
And how we do this it's by education, it's by teaching, it's through storytelling, it's through lectures, it's through movies and events and simple words, it's experience. So when you come here, and you guys have to come, we have experience. Many set foot on our grounds, you will feel the goosebumps. We have so many surveys and people giving us feedback about I felt something and I don't know what it was. And I love to just pass the boxes of tissues. I love it. I love it give them the boxes
of tissues. It's almost like a day's y'all, vol you've been here before, kind of feel that family, feel that warmth, that love, but yet something evil lurking in the growths kind of feel. And that's pretty much our I feel like our mission is simple. If someone can walk in unknown knowing the mules will walk out with a powerful impact and them wanting to impact others by sharing the legacy, our mission has been accomplished.
And I feel I feel that we feel that energy, you know.
We can feel it through through the microphone and there through the headphone.
What year did it actually open?
And like how did it finally like come to being in fruition.
So it started out with a small group that had asked permission to come on to the property and do a ceremony once a year. Now the group were able to get enough funding to actually be able to approaches
the plan. They were eventually able to get enough funding to be able to pay for this center, and they had to get a road in order to build this center, and they built the access road, and then there was a whole journey about what we're going to name it, and they decided upon name it Freedom avenue, which is Africo of course.
And then they build me.
It opened in April of two thousand and four, so I started working here in October of two thousand and four, Soda and so it was a progressive like a plan. They had the building, and then we got the reflection pond and the gazebo, and then we got the pavilion. And now we have a replica of the house and we have a trail as an African American civil rights walking trail that encompasses the park. So now it has gotten, you know, past zero four stages of what they wanted
to do. And for us, when people come on to the property, I hear people say like, I wasn't planning on coming here, but I got out there interstate and something just was calling me to the property and I just feel so at peace here. And then you tell them the story and they're shocked about the story because of how they feel when they get to the grounds.
And that's what is so important is that even though this was a very tragic story and this was about a family, and I think that we kind of missed that when we talk about the situation with the Mores, we talk about mister Moore and all the things that he did. But we don't really talk about the family aspect because I'm pretty sure if his wife wasn't on board, none of this would have happened. Now, this is a lot for a wife to sit silent and not have
a say so in. And because she was a like minded she realized not only was she going to put herself and him in danger, but she was also putting her two girls in danger. And so you have to think about they were all in this together. They were one, and she trusted him implicitly with their lives. And so when we talk about them, we always said, well, mister Moore and how all these fabulous things. But she was really the sounding board. She was really the person that
encouraged him when he was faltering. And the children did the speeches because he was not although he was a very great writer and he was so meticulous and crafty with this wording, he was not really an orator. But his children learned to give the speeches and they became powerful orators. And so you start to see that this was all a family project. This was a family who had made the choice to do this, and with making
that choice, they gave up things. They gave up their safety, they gave up time being parents, they gave up time being children, they gave up time being a wife and a husband. And it wasn't even for their benefit. It was for the benefit of the next generation, because they lived a very comfortable life. She was a school teacher, he was a school teacher and a principal. Their two children were college educated. They had a third income with their business of the orange grow and they.
Owned all of their properties.
They owned their own business, so it wasn't like they had not reached what we considered the American dreation, owning your own property, owning your own business, having two professionals in the household, having your children both college educated. If it had not been for the fact that they wanted this to be an easier transition for people who came along after them, they could have lived up to the right old age of whatever. But they made the decision as a couple and as a family to take on
and pursue this, and that made all the difference. And I don't know how many people would give up all of their comforts to just make sure that someone who they don't even know, who may not even appreciate what they have done, but they did it anyone that's a different mindset than most people have. And that's why you have to look at them in that like they're amazing.
When you see great people, you know in the world, this is one of the people that you have to think that their mindset had to be totally way different from any mindset.
Than we have.
Now you both have spoke so eloquently about the experience. You know what it feels like. You know, I can almost close my eyes and you were talking Sonya when you were talking in Kashanda, and feel myself on that property just in a few more words, because it was so powerful. Can you tell our listeners who would love to come and visit? You know, for the visitors, what can they expect the moment they walk in? What do they see? What do they learn immediately about the More's cultural center When.
A visitor arrived from our property, the first thing they're gonna always know right away is that when they walk in is experience right from the start, from the duel, and it's always something new, a new exhibit, a new movie, new lectures by different dynamic speakers from around the world, and new art our lobby in our four year area is never the same. So even if you come and visit us, when you come back, nothing will be the same in the museum. You know, some museums to pitch
are stays right there for fifty years. Change things. We do spring cleaning, right, yeah, and so we have events as well, and so some of our signature events are something like men on a Mission, Strategies of successful women.
Right.
We have a tea party out at the gazebo where everyone dress up with pearls and hats and s if they tea.
Uh.
We would have an annual car show, the more Collectible Car Show, so we have a new java of friends that we never would have met before. That's car enthusiasts, right, and I mean we're talking about over one hundred classic collectible cars that come in to our place. So when people come, what they can expect to learn, not only that, more importantly is that our visitors they will always leave with more knowledge, more wisdom, and more things to think about.
So when they walk in inside, they're coming in one way, but when they walk out outside, hopefully they're going to be able to impact mankind differently. Because it's something that was touched, salt or heard from all of their five senses, right. So yeah, when they visit the more Cultural Center, it's experience.
Because it's perpetually Christmas here. It's perpetually Christmas here. That spirit still lives on and we refresh every year. You will get the same tree or the same design every year. So when you have a perpetual Christmas, you know how that spirit is infectious and contagious. That's exactly how it is when people walk onto this land. It is infectious and contagious. They feel the need to tell the story
to someone or bring someone back. They feel the need to do something, They feel a call to action, and that is something that we once we tell them the story and we tell them all that about the moors, that is something that we get from everybody.
What can we do to help? What can we do? How can we support you? What can we.
Do to make sure that this doesn't get lost again? And that's something that people ask all the time, and that's our big thing is that we like you to talk to somebody about it, Come back and bring a friend, come to our events. You can support us by giving a donation if you would like. We just want everyone to know this story. And if you tell a friend and they tell a friend, everybody will know.
Yes, like six degrees between a so hey.
That's right.
So, with all of this beautiful energy and aloha and love that you've shared with us today about the Moors, about their story, and more importantly, about the more cultural center, if you could tell us, like, what can young minds today learn from the Moors and from learning about their history?
That's a great question. Young minds today can learn what it means to be active American citizens, right, they can learn how to recognize injustice. They learn about the transformative role played by thousands of ordinary individuals, as well as the importance of organization for collective change. Right. So they're
gonna learn what it means to be civically engaged. They're gonna learn what it means to be different right in all aspects of their life, and that it's okay and it's okay to be different, it's okay to stand out, it's okay not to fit in. Right. The main aim of spreading a story and to teach everyone that everyone deserves equal rights, everyone deserves human rights, everyone deserves to understand that history is taught and shit so that it
can never be repeated again. That's the takeaway. That's what it means about sharing this story and preserving this history.
And I always say that what they take away is that this is American history. This is not black history, this is not white history. This is American history. And it took everything that we went through in this country to get us to where we are today. And we have to appreciate every aspect, all our pits, all our valleys, all our peaks and climaxes in order for us to appreciate what we have today. And although we are not where we want to be, we are far from where
we were. And so we need to make sure that we keep living this history and learning it so that we won't repeat it. But more importantly, so that everybody feels that they are part of this fabric of America, that nobody feels like that they were left out. Everybody had a part in America, and so we need to really appreciate everybody's contribution and stop making it that it's one race or one ethnicity when it's multi that made us and that's what's going to go forward and make
us even greater. And so we need to just think about making sure we preserve American history and this is all part of it.
Thank you, lady, lady, Thank you, pure pure magic.
Thank you.
This week's message of hope and healing begins with an excerpt from a poem Langston Hughes wrote. When Harry and Harriet Moore were murdered. This is from the ballot of Harry T.
Moore.
Florida means land of flowers. It was on a Christmas night in the state names for flowers. Men came bearing dynamite. It could not be in Jesus' name. Beneath the bedroom floor on Christmas night, the killers hid the bomb for Harry Moore. When will men, for sake of peace and for democracy learn no bombs a man can make keep men from being free? As this, he says, are Harry Moore. As from the grave, he cries, no bomb can kill the dreams I hold for freedom never dies. To Harry
and Harriet Moore. Onward and upward, Emua, emua. Well, that is our show for today. As always, we'd love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and if there is a case that you would like us to cover, find us on social media or email us at Facingevilpod at Tenderfoot dot tv, and.
One small request if you haven't already, please find us on Apple Podcasts and give us a good rating and good review.
If you like what we do, your support is always cherished until next time. Aloha.
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The show is hosted by Russia pacquerero In a Vetchila, Matt Frederick, and Alex Williams, our executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald albright In Payne Lindsay, our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Carolyn Talmadge. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social media or email us at Facing Evil Pod at
Tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows