Before His Time: The Untold Story Of Harry T. Moore, America's First Civil Rights Martyr

by Ben Green

In Jim Crow Florida, a young black man’s courageous fight to obtain equal rights for blacks ends in a personal tragedy that remains unsolved to this day. This is his story.   Before Martin Luther King Jr. began to preach from his pulpit in Montgomery, before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, and before Rosa Parks' famous bus ride, a man named Harry T. Moore toiled in Jim Crow Florida on behalf of the NAACP and the Progressive Voters’ League. For seventeen years, in an era of official indifference and outright hostility, the soft-spoken but resolute Moore traveled the back roads of the state on a mission to educate, evangelize, and organize. On Christmas night in 1951, in Mims, Florida, a bomb placed under his bed ended Harry Moore’s life. His wife, Harriette, died of her wounds a week later. Although Florida’s governor reopened the case in 1991, no one was ever convicted of this crime.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kathy Chumley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Emmett Till. Before Medgar Evers. Before Brown vs. Board of Education. Before Montgomery and Birmingham and Little Rock. Before MLK, Jr. Before all of that was Harry T Moore, the Civil Rights martyr you never heard of.

Harry and Harriette Moore lived just a few miles north of where I grew up. I attended and later taught in the school system that fired them for their activism (they had the audacity to register Black voters). Even in my hometown there are people who are still unaware of Harry Moore and his 15+ years of relentless civil rights activism. He was fighting for his people right up until his murder on Christmas night 1951.

Ben Green's book was published in 1999, just over 5 years before the most recent and so far final investigation into the murder, yet little has changed since its publication. Although then Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist reopened the investigation in the mid-2000s no new information was forthcoming. The investigation revealed the probable killers, all of whom were long dead and all of whom were floated as probable in previous investigations as well as in this book. To this day the murders of Harry and Harriette Moore remain officially unsolved.

If you've never heard of Moore and or heard of him and are unfamiliar with his story I urge you to read this book. It's not easy to find but is worth the effort. Read the Langston Hughes poem The Ballad of Harry T. Moore https://www.nbbd.com/godo/moore/balla..., then watch it performed in this interpretive dance as set to music by Sweet Honey in the Rock. https://youtu.be/nxgzDEQnFOg

Why doesn't everyone know the names of Harry and Harriette Moore? The Civil Rights movement has been generally accepted as beginning with the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. A quote from this book says it all:

"In the final analysis, the most poignant epitaph for Harry T. Moore is that he was killed three years too soon. If he had been killed in 1954 - after the Brown decision, after the birth of the civil rights movement - he would be Medgar Evers. Everyone would know his name. He would be part of our social consciousness, recognized as the first martyred leader of the movement. His name would be in every history book."

His name should be in every history book. Since it's not, I recommend reading this book so you will know his name and can tell others about him.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was especially interested in this book because Harry Moore's story took place in my hometown. When I was growing up there, no one knew about it -- or at least, no one spoke of it. (Long after I moved away, a memorial museum was built to honor Moore.) Ben Green's in-depth research shines here.

[Jim Perillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-written and enjoyable, even if the subject matter could be extremely grim at times. This was a book that started off slowly, and I had a few "false starts," but eventually I was able to maintain my pace and read it through. I hadn't previously heard of Harry T. Moore (his name came up recently in connection with articles about the Groveland Four, an incident which serves as a focal point of the book), and the book did a solid job of explaining who he was, and putting his accomplishments in context. It's unfortunate that he's not remembered more broadly, and it's difficult for the reader to understand the risks he and his family undertook every day, trying to advance the cause for African American rights and freedoms in central Florida. It was also interesting to learn of his involvement with the NAACP and with Thurgood Marhall, another historical figure I am hoping to learn more about. As a Florida transplant the past 20 years, this book provided a reminder that Florida, like most of the U.S., has a shameful past regarding civil rights.

[Abhaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotionally tough read, but such an important history.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. A good historical lesson on civil rights in central Florida in the 1900s. I grew to really respect and appreciate the integrity of Harry and Harriette Moore and their children. He is a civil rights hero and he did set the stage for further civil right victories. The ending and his daughter’s overcoming of the tragedy is touching.

[Anup Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Harry Moore, a remarkable man who was fighting for civil rights in the Jim Crow south a couple of decades before the civil rights movement really got going in the mid-1950’s. He was a teacher by trade but a passionate humanitarian who gave so much to the NAACP and paid for it with both his and his wife’s life. It is a shame he has been largely forgotten in the movement and that his murder remains unsolved, much less unpunished, after 70 years.

The book is actually quite depressing, it doesn’t seem like the good guys ever win and there’s a sense that it doesn’t come to a resolution.

The first half of the book reads well, I was hooked, and Ben Green really dug up some good detail on some horribly racist incidents in Florida. It is clear that Florida has a racist past to compare with anybody’s and being a Florida resident myself, I’m stunned that these events all happened within the last century in cities and areas I have visited.

It’s not so tight the second half and he spends about a hundred pages chasing down red herrings on the investigations into who bombed the Moore house on Christmas Day of 1951. This part of the book was poorly organized; well-researched but not well-edited or streamlined for readability.

I know it’s inherently a sad story but I would have liked some kind of resolution or reference to something that is better now because of Harry Moore. It’s alluded to but kind of lost in the ramble of the murder theories and investigations.

Nevertheless, I am awful glad Green wrote this book and that I have read it and become better aware of Harry Moore. He is one of our state’s all-time heroes and martyrs and we need to continue to fight for his values.

[Glynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about one of the first civil rights leaders to emerge in the fight for justice for black people. Harry T. Moore was a teacher in the Brevard County school district in Florida. At the time Brevard County and Florida (and the south in general) was a scary place for black people. There were lynchings and bombings and black people were not considered people. Harry Moore started addressing this injustice. As a school teacher he began by trying to educate the children. For his efforts he was fired from his job and became a full time civil rights activist for the NAACP.

There are a lot of villains in this book, including so-called law enforcement. I found out about Harry Moore when I moved to Brevard County, Florida in 2014. I wanted to learn more about the area and found a book at the library called Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King, which is about Thurgood Marshall and the trial of 4 young black men accused of raping a white girl in Lake County. It is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it. After reading that I wanted to read more about Harry Moore. This book satisfied that desire. I was especially taken with the depiction of Harry's family and his loving relationship with his wife and children. It is outrageous that to this day his and his wife's murders have never been solved and the people who were responsible for it are probably long dead.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the book delved further into Moore's life and less into his murder. His murder being unsolved is definitely an injustice that will never be rectified I just wish the last 3rd of the book didn't completely focus on that.

The author also tends to assign emotions and motives to peoples actions when in reality those can be at best educated guesses.

Definitely worth reading.

[Citizen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone with an interest in Florida history should read Ben Green’s “Before His Time” or know the story of Harry T. Moore of Brevard County in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. This man’s legacy should be much more widely known.

[Abigail Duarte · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book provided information about a man that most know little of, if any. I enjoyed the read, but I would not read this again

[FSU Alumni]

Ben Green (M.S. '76)