"Richard Benjamin Moore"(1903-1978)

Was an African Caribbean civil rights activists and prominent communist.He was a Barbadian writer born in Barbados,West Indies to Richard Henry Moore and Josephine Thorne Moore.In Barbados,the Richard Henry and Josephine Moore was considered middle class in terms of socioeconomic status.Richard Henry Moore was the moneymaker of the family working as a preacher and building contractor in Barbados.Unfortunately,tragedy struck when Richard B.Moore mother died when he was only three years old.His father was later remarried to Elizabeth McLean.Soon thereafter,another tragedy struck when his father died in 1902 when young Richard was at the age of nine.With both biological parents dead,he was raised by his stepmother Elizabeth.She wanted to carry out Richard senior wishes of giving young Richard the best education.It is for this reason that Elizabeth aided young Richard in traveling to the United States.In hopes of furthering his education,Richard migrated to the United States of America and arrived in New York City on July 4,1909.However he would not become naturalized citizen until September 11,1924.Although African Americans were free in the United States,they were far from being treated equal to the whites in America.He was immediately faced with racial discrimination when it came to employment and educational opportunities among other things.Although trained in Barbados to do clerical work, Richard was forced to turn to the more unfavourable jobs like an elevator operator and work in a silk manufacturing firm.Due to the struggles that he encountered and observed, he became a strong vocalist for the rights of African-Americans.In 1919 Richard joined the African American Brotherhood (ABB) which was an organization formed to defend African Americans from race riots and lynching.Richard along with other black advocates,joined the Communist Party in the early 1920s.He joined the Communist Party,in part,because at the time the Communist party was transforming itself into a force to fight against segregation.In 1934,he ran on the Communist ticket for Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.In 1935,he became the organizer for the International Labor Defense in the New England Territory.He used his position in this organization to speak on behalf of the Scottsboro Boys,which was a case where nine young African American males were accused of brutally raping two young white girls.In 1942,Richard was expelled from the communist party because he was accused of being a Black Nationalist and keeping black issues on the front burner.He continued his efforts for equal rights in America.Richard also played a leading role in Caribbean advocacy groups.Like his friend Hubert Harrison,was a bibliophile collecting over 1500 books and pamphlets on the black experiences worldwide.This collection of books is currently housed in a library that Richard developed in Barbados.He also ran the Frederick Douglass book center in Harlem.Along with having a love of books,he published a few himself including The Name Negro,Its Orgin,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.He died in Barbados.