American Pan-African activist (1898?1997)
Queen Mother Moore
(born
Audley Moore
; July 27, 1898 ? May 2, 1997)
[1]
was an African-American civil rights leader and a
black nationalist
who was friends with such civil rights leaders as
Marcus Garvey
,
Nelson Mandela
,
Winnie Mandela
,
Rosa Parks
, and
Jesse Jackson
. She was a figure in the
American Civil Rights Movement
and a founder of the
Republic of New Afrika
. Dr.
Delois Blakely
was her assistant for 20 years. Blakely was later enstooled in Ghana as a Nana (Queen Mother).
Biography
[
edit
]
She was born
Audley Moore
in
New Iberia, Louisiana
, to Ella and St. Cyr Moore on July 27, 1898. Both her parents died before she completed the fourth grade, her mother Ella Johnson dying in 1904 when Audley was six. Her grandmother, Nora Henry, had been enslaved at birth, the daughter of an African woman who was raped by her enslaver, who was a doctor. Audley Moore's grandfather was lynched, leaving her grandmother with five children with Moore's mother as the youngest. Moore became a
hairdresser
at the age of 15.
Moore later had an adopted son, Thomas O. Warner.
[1]
After viewing a speech by
Marcus Garvey
, Moore moved to
Harlem, New York
, and later became a leader and life member of the
UNIA
,
[1]
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
alongside
Jesse Jackson
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.
[2]
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.
[3]
Although raised
Catholic
, Moore disaffiliated during the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
, during which Moore felt
Pope Pius XII
took improper actions in supporting the Italian army.
[4]
[5]
She later became bishop of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Judea. 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".
[6]
In 1957, Moore presented a petition to the
United Nations
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
Taking the first of many trips to Africa in 1972, she was given the
chieftaincy
title "
Queen Mother
" by members of the
Ashanti people
in
Ghana
, an honorific that became her informal name in the United States.
In 1990, Blakely took her to meet
Nelson Mandela
after his release from prison in
South Africa
, at the residence of President
Kenneth Kaunda
in
Lusaka
,
Zambia
. In 1996, Blakely assisted Moore in enstooling
Winnie Mandela
in the presence of the
Ausar Auset Society
International at the Lowes
Victoria Theater (New York City)
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. politician)
, U.S. Congressman
Charles Rangel
, NYC Mayor
David Dinkins
and U.S. Presidential Candidate
Jesse Jackson
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.
Queen Mother Moore died in a
Brooklyn
nursing home from natural causes at the age of 98.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Pace, Eric (May 7, 1997).
"Queen Mother Moore, 98, Harlem Rights Leader, Dies"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
February 27,
2019
.
- ^
Alston, Nzingha (May 10, 1997). "Queen Mother Moore was an untiring crusader for justice".
New York Amsterdam News
.
88
(19): 8. 2/5p – via Academic Search Complete.
- ^
Charles Henry, "The Politics of Racial Reparations",
Journal of Black Studies
, 142.
- ^
"Queen Mother Audley Moore interview pt. 1: The early days ? Liberation School"
. December 11, 2018
. Retrieved
January 11,
2022
.
- ^
"Audley (Queen Mother) Moore".
The Black Women Oral History Project
. K. G. Saur. June 21, 2013. pp. 3515?3606.
doi
:
10.1515/9783110973914.3515
.
ISBN
978-3-11-097391-4
.
- ^
"Auberge du Peche-Lune"
.
www.peche-lune.com
. Archived from
the original
on May 18, 2007
. Retrieved
June 4,
2020
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
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]
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