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FREEDOMWAYS

FOURTH QUARTER 1966

brand under which we live, and die, today? We had better make up our minds, and fast, as to which brand we want to pay for, fight for, die for. We are all paying for it, many of us are fighting for it, and some of us are dying for it, so we ought to make sure that we pay, fight and die for what we really want.

Harry T. Moore, aged 46, and his family gathered in their neat little home in the segregated Negro district of Mims, Florida for a reunion on Christmas night, 1951. Christmas night! His mother, Mrs. Rosa Moore, 71, a school teacher, came down from Jacksonville; his wife, Harriet, also a school teacher, came home from Lake Park; one daughter, Annie, also a school teacher, came down from Ocala; the other daughter, Evangaline, a government employee was en route from Washington; his brother-in-law, Master Sergeant George Simms, came home on leave after 14 months in Korea.

The little family probably exchanged Christmas presents, and ate a gala dinner; they probably about Harry and Harriet's approaching 25th wedding anniversary, about school teaching, about the war in Korea, about the work of the NAACP, and of course about the Negro Question—in the Army, in the schools, in the South, and in general. They went to bed fairly early, probably a little tired, and full of good dinner.

In the night they were shocked awake by a terrific explosion which wrecked the Moore bedroom, undetermined their house, and rocked the neighborhood.

Harry's brother-in-law said: "I heard screams 'Come quick.' When I got there Harry was lying on his mattress in the yard, bleeding badly." He rushed him to the hospital at nearby Sanford, but Harry died on the way.

Harry's mother said: "I tried to get him to quit the NAACP, thinking something might happen to him some day, but he told me: 'I'm trying to do what I can to elevate the Negro race.' I often talked to him about the danger. He was aware of it, but felt the work had to be done. He would say: 'Mother, I'm not doing anything wrong. I just want my people to have the same rights as other folks.'"

Harry himself said, just before he died: "Every advancement comes by way of sacrifice, and if I sacrifice my life or health, I still think it is my duty for my race."

Harry's wife said, before she died a few days later: "Harry's gone. My home is wrecked. I have nothing to live for. I don't care much if I live. My children are grown. Others can carry on." 

Well, will others carry on? The Memorial meetings around

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-09 17:03:02