Audley "Queen Mother" Moore (July 27, 1898 – May 2, 1997) was an American civil rights leader and a
black nationalist
Black nationalism is a nationalist movement which seeks representation for Black people as a distinct national identity, especially in racialized, colonial and postcolonial societies. Its earliest proponents saw it as a way to advocate for ...
who was friends with such civil rights leaders as
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
,
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
,
Winnie Mandela
Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist, second wife of Nelson Mandela. During ...
,
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...
, and
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...
. She was a figure in the
American Civil Rights Movement and a founder of the
Republic of New Afrika.
Delois Blakely was her assistant for 20 years. Blakely was later enstooled in Ghana as a Nana (Queen Mother).
Early life
Queen Mother Moore was born Audley Moore in
New Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia (; ) is the largest city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lafayette, and forms part of ...
, to Ella and St. Cyr Moore on July 27, 1898. Her father, St. Cyr Moore, served as deputy sheriff of Iberia Parish. He would be married three times and father eight children. During his marriage to Ella Moore, Queen Mother Moore was the eldest of three, Lorita and Eloise. As children, Moore and her sisters went to Saint Catherine’s catholic school.
Moore’s mother would die when she was six, and she and her sisters would be placed in the care of their maternal grandmother. Her grandmother, Nora Henry, had been born into the slavery, and when Moore’s mother Ella was a child her grandfather was lynched, leaving Ella and her siblings in the care of their mother. Moore and her siblings would later return to the care of their father in New Orleans, but he would pass away when she was in the fourth grade and she would drop out shortly after.
The inheritance intended for Moore and her sisters was claimed by a half brother that put them out of their home. To support herself and her sisters, Moore took her fathers mules to auction and used the money to rent a home. She would later lie about her age in order to become a hairdresser, a position that would support them for sometime.
Their involvement with activism began in their teenage years with Moore and her sisters mobilizing their neighbors during World War I to provide aid to black recruits upon learning that the
Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
was only providing sustenance for white soldiers. Her sister Eloise, would establish what could be called the first United Service Organizations in Anniston, Alabama. She found space in an unused building where Black soldiers could go to relax, a privilege previously only afforded to White Soldiers.
In 1919, Moore learned of Marcus Garvey and went to hear him speak in New Orleans in 1920. By this time, Moore had married and she and her three sisters gained a “new consciousness” of their African heritage after Garvey’s speech.
Activism
After attending a speech by
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
, Moore had begun preparing herself to move to Africa with her husband. However, after facing family issues she would remain in the United States, moving first to California then to Chicago before settling in Harlem, New York with her husband and sisters in 1922.
Moore moved through activist groups often; before joining the communist party around 1933, Moore joined the
International Labor Defense
The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active ...
. In the communist party, she found a new consciousness of “the society under which we live, an analysis of the system under which we live.” Moore would work with the party for sometime before resigning in 1950 due to believing the party was no longer working in the best interest of Black people.
Moore, after meeting Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, became a life member of the Council of Negro Women. It was with Bethune, Moore would make the first of many speeches to crowds of those interested in the fight for civil rights.
Moore later became a leader and life member of the
UNIA
''Unia'' (), released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album '' Reckoning Night''. The first single from the album was " Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007. This is ...
, founded in 1914 by Marcus Garvey. She participated in Garvey's first international convention in New York City and was a stock owner in the
Black Star Line. Along with becoming a leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement, Moore worked for a variety of causes for over 60 years. Her last public appearance was at the
Million Man March
The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on Monday, October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a ...
alongside
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...
during October 1995.
Moore was the founder and president of the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women as well as the founder of the Committee for Reparations for Descendants of U.S. Slaves. She was a founding member of the Republic of New Afrika to fight for self-determination, land, and reparations.
In 1964, Moore founded the Eloise Moore College of African Studies, Mt. Addis Ababa in Parksville, New York. The college was destroyed by fire in the late 1970s.
For most of the 1950s and 1960s, Moore was the best-known advocate of
African-American reparations. Operating out of Harlem and her organization, the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women, Moore actively promoted reparations from 1950 until her death.
Although raised
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, Moore disaffiliated during the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Fascist Italy, Italy against Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is oft ...
, during which Moore felt
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
took improper actions in supporting the Italian army. Moore went between religions, from being a Missionary in the Baptist Church, a member of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Judah, and was later baptized into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. She was also a founding member of the Commission to Eliminate Racism, Council of Churches of Greater New York. In organizing this commission, she staged a 24-hour sit-in for three weeks.
She was also a co-founder of the African American Cultural Foundation, Inc., which led the fight against usage of the slave term "Negro".
In 1957, Moore presented a petition to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
and a second in 1959, arguing for self-determination, against genocide, for land and reparations, making her an international advocate. Interviewed by E. Menelik Pinto, Moore explained the petition, in which she asked for 200 billion dollars to monetarily compensate for 400 years of slavery. The petition also called for compensations to be given to African Americans who wish to return to Africa and those who wish to remain in America. Queen Mother Moore was the first signer of the New African agreement
Moore travelled to Africa numerous times between 1972 and 1977. On her first trip to Africa in 1972, she would travel to Guinea for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s funeral before being called to Ghana by a chief. In Ghana she would be bestowed with the honorific title “Queen Mother” by the Ashanti in a ceremony. She would later return to Africa again for the All-African Women’s Conference in Tanzania. She would also travel to Guinea Bissau as the guest of Amilcar Cabral, to Nigeria for the Festival of Arts and Culture, and return to Tanzania for the sixth Pan-African Congress, and to Uganda.
In 1990, Blakely took her to meet
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
after his release from prison in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, at the residence of President
Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from Northern Rhodesia, British ...
in
Lusaka
Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...
,
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
. In 1996, Blakely assisted Moore in enstooling
Winnie Mandela
Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist, second wife of Nelson Mandela. During ...
in the presence of the
Ausar Auset Society
The Ausar Auset Society is a Pan-African spiritual organization founded in 1973 by Ra Un Nefer Amen.
It is based in Brooklyn, New York, with chapters in several major cities in the United States as well as international chapters in London, Engla ...
International at the Lowes
Victoria Theater (New York City)
The Victoria Theater was a Theater (structure), theater located on 125th Street (Manhattan), 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, a notable and prolific theater archite ...
5 at 125th Street, Harlem.
The first African-American Chairman of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Ron Brown, U.S. Congressman
Charles Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel ( ; June 11, 1930 – May 26, 2025) was an American politician who served as United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for districts in New York City for 46 years. A member of the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, NYC Mayor
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993.
Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...
and U.S. presidential candidate
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...
honored, supported, acknowledged, respected and insured the well-being of Moore as a Royal Elder in the Harlem community.
Sonia Sanchez, voice of the liberation struggle of a people, was a God-daughter adored by Moore.
On May 2, 1997, Moore died in a
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
nursing home from natural causes, at the age of 98.
Reparation and Petition to the United Nations
Queen Mother Moore is considered one of the leading activists in the fight for reparations. Her primary two goals were the realization of reparations, as well as the self-determination of Black Americans.
She advocated for a stance that recognized that the violence inflicted on African people during the time periods of the
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manu ...
,
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...
, and Slavery was a form of cultural destruction, and that extensive grassroots work and economic restitution was needed to restore communities . Her particular stance is credited as playing a large role in imagining the role that Black women play in reparations work within the context of creating diasporic African communities and calling for economic reparations.
Taking inspiration from
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
, Moore framed her calls for reparations within a framework that believed that an integral part of economic restitution would be the “handing back” of economic and cultural wealth stolen during the process of enslavement. Moore later went on to become a member of the
Civil Rights Congress (CRC), and through that work she developed a consciousness towards civil rights that included appealing to international institutions. One particularly formative moment for Moore was in 1951, when chairman of the CRC William Patterson submitted a petition to the United Nations titled “We Charge Genocide.”
This petition revealed many of the abuses suffered by Black Americans, and demanded action from the international community. Moore worked with Patterson, and through this work began to integrate strategies such as appealing to international networks and institutions as a mechanism of reparations action, situating her work within an internationalist framework.
Moore officially integrated a stance on reparations into her activism work in the 1960’s, when forming the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women (UAEW). Moore founded the UAEW in Louisiana in response to working on cases of rape and other sexual violence against Black women.
Through her work with the UAEW, Moore advocated for policy such as welfare benefits as a form of reparations for the sexual violence inflicted on Black women by white men. The UAEW also created an extensive mutual aid network, collecting food and other resources for Black women who lost access to welfare benefits due to being deemed unfit mothers under Suitable Home Law, a set of policies that targeted women who did not conform to ideals of white motherhood and domesticity. After attempts to appeal to the United States government were ignored, Moore and the UAEW submitted an official petition to the UN. The UAEW’s petition to the UN took inspiration from the CRC's 1951 petition, using the grounds that Black Americans were not true citizens, and experienced a form of violence living in the United states that was akin to genocide. The UAEW demanded that the UN recognize this, and intervene by asking the US government to abolish forms of violence such as
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
.
In 1962 Moore moved to Philadelphia and joined the National Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Observance Committee (NEPCOC), around the same time that the group was overhauling its mission, transitioning from a commemorative organization to one that was active in the fight for civil rights. In April 1962 the group held All-Africans Freedom Day Celebrations, where the NEPCOC announced its national mission to fight for reparations. While it appears that this action may not have materialized, the NEPCOC did organize a series of lectures on the topic of reparations, some of which include Moore as a keynote speaker.
Moore feared that as the 100 year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation drew closer in 1963, not enough was being done to further the fight.
Moore’s role in the NEPCOC led to a conference for the drafting and finalizing of a resolution that outlined the legal and judicial justification for reparations in the United States. From this petition a new organization was formed, African Descendants National Independence Partition Party (AD NIP). Moore played a very small role in the AD NIP’s organizational structure, but her work is credited as being the founding thought from which the organization is based, particularly her work around nation building and reparations policy.
References
Further reading
*
External links
"'Queen Mother’ Moore; black nationalist leader"."Queen Mother" Moore, Black History Pages.* Andy Lanset
"Marcus Garvey: 20th Century Pan-Africanist" NYPR Archives & Preservation, WNYC, February 15, 2013. Queen Mother Moore talks about seeing Marcus Garvey and being in the UNIA in this radio documentary.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Queen Mother
1898 births
1997 deaths
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women
Activists for African-American civil rights
Activists from Louisiana
African-American activists
African-American Catholics
American Black separatist activists
American reparationists
People from New Iberia, Louisiana
American women civil rights activists