Richard Benjamin Moore (9 August 1893 – 1978) was a

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

-born

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist, writer and prominent

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. He was also one of the earliest advocates of the term

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, as opposed to

Negro In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...

or "

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

Early life

Richard Benjamin Moore was born on 9 August 1893 in

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, to Richard Henry Moore and Josephine Thorne Moore. In Barbados, the family was considered to be in the middle class regarding socioeconomic status. Richard Henry Moore the family's moneymaker, worked as a

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

and building contractor in Barbados. Richard B. Moore’s mother died when he was, three years old. Moore’s father later remarried Elizabeth Mclean and soon died in 1902 when the young Richard was nine years old. With both biological parents dead, Moore was raised by his stepmother, Elizabeth Mclean. Mclean wanted to carry out Richard Sr.'s wishes of giving Richard the best education, so she aided Richard in traveling to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Moore migrated to the United States and arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 4 July 1909. However, Moore would not become a naturalized citizen until 11 September 1924. Although

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

were free in the United States, they were far from being treated equally to European-Americans. Moore immediately faced

ethnic discrimination Ethnic hatred, inter-ethnic hatred, racial hatred, or ethnic tension refers to notions and acts of prejudice and hostility towards an ethnic group to varying degrees. It is a form of racial prejudice, based on ethnic origin or region of origin. ...

regarding employment and educational opportunities. Although trained in Barbados to do clerical work, he was forced to turn to other jobs such as an elevator operator and work in a silk manufacturing firm.

Political activism

The struggles that Moore encountered and observed made him become a strong advocate for the rights of African Americans. In 1919, he joined the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), which was an organization formed to defend African Americans from

race riots This is a list of ethnic riots by country, and includes riots based on ethnic, sectarian, xenophobic, and racial conflict. Some of these riots can also be classified as pogroms. Africa Americas United States Nativist period: 1700s� ...

and

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

. Moore, along with other African-American advocates, joined the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

in the early 1920s. Moore joined the Socialist Party, partly because the Socialist Party was then transforming itself into a force to fight against segregation. Moore was a frequent political candidate of the Communist Party. In 1928, he ran for the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in New York's 21st congressional district."Red Ticket Goes on Ballot in NY State", ''Daily Worker,'' vol. 5, no. 241 (11 October 1928), p. 3. In

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, Moore ran on the Socialist ticket for

Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals The Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, also known as the Chief Judge of New York, supervises the seven-judge New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York ...

. In 1935, he became the organizer for 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

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Territory. He used his position in that organization to speak on behalf of the

Scottsboro Boys The Scottsboro Boys were nine African Americans, African American male teenagers accused of rape, raping two White American, white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with Racism in the United States, racism ...

, a case in which nine young African-American males were accused of raping two young European-American women. In 1942, Moore was expelled from the Communist Party because he was accused of being an African-American nationalist and kept African-American issues on the front burner. He continued his efforts for equal rights in America. He also played a leading role in

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

advocacy groups. Moore, like his friend

Hubert Harrison Hubert Henry Harrison (April 27, 1883 – December 17, 1927) was a West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, race and class conscious political activist, and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by a ...

, was a bibliophile, collecting over 15,000 books and pamphlets on the African-American experiences worldwide. That collection of books is currently housed in a library that Moore developed in Barbados. Moore also ran the Frederick Douglass Book Center in Harlem. Moore wrote a few books himself, including ''The Name "Negro": Its Origin and Evil Use'' (1960) and ''Caribs, Cannibals and Human Relations'' (1972). He also had essays and articles published in various magazines and journals, including the ''Negro Champion'', ''Daily Worker'', and '' Freedomways''.

Death

Moore died in his homeland of Barbados in 1978, at the age of 85.

Footnotes

External links

Richard B. Moore Papers, Sc MG 397
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
The African American Registry

Access My Library: Richard B. Moore

In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Richard Benjamin 1893 births 1978 deaths Activists from New York City American civil rights activists Barbadian communists Barbadian emigrants to the United States Barbadian male writers Members of the Communist Party USA

Early life

Political activism

Death

Footnotes

Further reading

External links