Responding to the Murder of Harry T. Moore

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity is appropriate for students in grades 7-12 and should take one class period to complete.

Begin by providing students with a copy of the letter written by Arden Rappaport and display the activity in front of the class. Model document analysis techniques by asking students to respond to the following questions:

• What names do you see in this document?
• Are there any dates contained in this document? If so, what are they?
• Are there any locations (cities, states, offices) specified in this document?
• What is the main idea of this document? What is it about?
• Why was this document created?
• Is the letter effective? Why or why not? 

Ask students to share their responses during a class discussion.

You can explain that on the evening of December 25, a bomb was placed under the floor joists of the bedroom of Harry T. Moore, executive secretary of the Florida chapter of the NAACP, while he, his wife, and daughter slept in their beds. Moore had drawn attention to himself through his civil rights activities, which included registering African Americans to vote, fighting unfair labor practices, and exposing cases of lynching and police brutality. His campaign against what he believed was the wrongful conviction of three African American males accused of raping a white woman, known as the Groveland case, attracted the attention of the Ku Klux Klan. Moore died as a result of his injuries, followed by his wife nine days later. He was the first NAACP official murdered in the modern civil rights struggle. This letter from a Sarah Lawrence College student was one of thousands that poured into the White House, demonstrating the public outcry.

After discussing Harry T. Moore’s life, civil rights activities and murder, direct students to respond to Rappaport’s letter as though they are President Truman. Provide students with a transcript of the U.S. Constitution. Remind them to consider what action the president can take according to powers of the executive branch outlined in the Constitution as they craft their responses. Their responses might be in the form of a letter, in the form of a speech, or a list of action items. You may consider inviting students to share their responses during a follow-up class discussion.

After discussing their responses, share with students that on October 11, 1952, Truman gave a speech in Harlem, NY in which he stated:

It was also last year that the Nation was shocked by the bomb murder in Florida of Harry T. Moore and his wife. These tragic deaths came shortly after the bombings of synagogues and Catholic churches and of the housing project at Carver Village. For several months the FBI has been gathering evidence on the mobs responsible for these outrages. And this week the United States Government began to present evidence to a Federal grand jury at Miami. These are examples of how your Federal Government-under a Democratic President-stands behind the constitutional guarantees of human rights.

(Address in Harlem, New York, Upon Receiving the Franklin Roosevelt Award, October 11, 1952, 290, Truman Library.)