The unsolved murders of Harry and Harriette Moore

It was Christmas Day 1951 when death and destruction ended the lives of two prominent Civil rights leaders in Mims, Florida. Harry Moore and his wife Harriette had returned home after celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple had said good night to each other and then retired to bed.

Shortly after, a bomb exploded in the Moore home. Someone had planted a bomb underneath the couple’s bed. Authorities arrived to transport the mortally wounded couple to the hospital. Harry died en route to the hospital while Harriet died nine days later. The deaths were a blow to the civil rights movement. Someone had murdered two of their champions.

What had led to the killings? First, you would have to visit the past to understand how Harry and Harriette Moore rose to prominence. Harry Moore called Florida home. He was born on November 18, 1905 in Houston, Florida to Johnny and Rosa Moore. Harry was 9-years-old when his father passed away in 1914. Johnny worked for the railroad while Rosa ran a small store near their house.

Rosa wasn’t able to provide for Harry, so she sent him to live with his three aunts (Jesse, Adrianna and Masie Tyson). This move would shape Harry’s young life. Two of his aunts were educators, and the other was a nurse. They loved Harry and treated him like a son.

While living with his aunts, they taught him the value of education and how it could lead to a positive future. He was inquisitive and eager to learn. He took the lessons from his aunts to heart and returned home three years later. Harry excelled in high school and made excellent grades. His friends called him “doc.” After high school, he graduated from college in 1925 and became a teacher.

He accepted his first teaching job at Cocoa Elementary in Cocoa, Florida, where he met an older woman named Harriette Vyda Simms. She had once been a teacher, but then began selling insurance. The couple immediately fell in love and married within a year of meeting.

Harry Moore started the Brevard County Florida NCAAP chapter. It would successfully grow into a large organization with over 10,000 members. Three years later, he filed a lawsuit arguing for black teachers to be paid the same as their white counterparts. Although the lawsuit failed, there were other lawsuits that picked up Harry’s lead.

The other lawsuits were successful and led to white and black teachers in Florida receiving equal pay. The Moores devoted their lives to their NCAAP work and establishing equality for people of color.

In 1943, Harry Moore began taking on more dangerous injustices. He focused on police brutality and lynchings. He would take up several causes in his lifetime. But his last one most likely led to his death. On November 6, 1951, Sheriff Willis McCall of Lake County was transporting two black men named Walter Irvin and Sammy Shepherd to a pre-trial hearing. McCall handcuffed both Irvin and Shepherd and then placed them into the backseat of his patrol car.

McCall shot both men before they made it to the hearing. Shepherd died immediately, but Irvin survived. Sheriff McCall claimed he shot the men after they tried to attack him. However, Irvin said McCall lied. He claimed McCall had stopped the car, dragged the men out and then shot them. The shootings were scandalous and newsworthy. An outraged Harry Moore demanded McCall be suspended and charged with murder.

Harry Moore makes enemies with his civil rights work

Harry Moore had stirred up a hornet’s nest with his demand for a white sheriff to be held responsible for his crimes. Unfortunately, within two months of the incident, Harry Moore and his wife would both die from a fiery explosion in their home.

President Harry Truman became bombarded with letters demanding justice for the Moores. The nation was in an uproar over their murders. In 1952, the FBI investigated the homicides. They believed the Ku Klux Klan were involved. There were at least four suspects, but no one was ever charged. Today, the murders remain unsolved.

Although most of the population knows nothing about Harry and Harriette Moore, others have carried on their fight for equality. The Moore’s knew the dangers of their actions. Regardless, they wanted to provide a better future for their children and other people of color. Unfortunately, our nation still struggles with equality. But thankfully, there are always people willing to speak out against society’s injustices.