David Moore Sr.

: The life of a man growing up in the racist South and fighting the uphill battle for equality.
By: Kevin Moore Published: Friday October 7th, 2011

Imagine living in a period of time where you had to live in a segregated society based on race, and had to face violence and derogatory acts such as someone spitting on you due to your race. This is the life that David Moore Sr., 75, faced while growing up in the South. Moore Sr. grew up in the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and participated in the Greensboro sit-ins protests to make a point that racial discrimination would not be accepted. Moore Sr. experienced racism early in his life around the age of 16, when he went and applied for a job at his local grocery store and was denied the job because of his race. He recalled the horrific moment when the manager of the store told him I will never let a nigger work in my store. Those words would forever be ingrained into his head and would eventually lead him to being a very involved participant in the battle for civil rights. When Moore Sr. went away to college at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC, he thought that being in a new place would help give him a fresh start in being able to escape the past racism he had faced. However, he quickly learned that it was the complete opposite. Moore Sr. was greeted to the city of Greensboro, NC which back in that time had a very hostile environment he said. The first experience Moore Sr. had in Greensboro involved him trying to eat at the Woolworths lunch counter. He remembered entering the store and asking for some

water and a burger, when the lady behind the counter simply said to him We dont serve your kind around here. This lead Moore and a group of his collegiate peers to take action on this problem. Moore Sr. and his peers chose to participate in a movement later titled in history as the Greensboro sit-ins movement. This movement was set up where students would nonviolently go into the Woolworths store and sit at the lunch counter and request to be served. However, as Moore Sr. said It was not as simple as just going to Woolworths and just sitting there waiting to be served. He explained that students who chose to participate in this movement had to receive training before joining the movement. The students had to attend workshops on nonviolent action, and were trained on how to take abuse from those who oppose the movement without retaliating. The training took place in the campus gym at NC A&T State University, and the students had to come to the gym for two nights a week. This training took place for nine months, and as Moore Sr. said It felt like the training took forever, and we were all eager to get into the action and start protesting. After training was complete, Moore Sr. along with his friends Van McDonald and Edward Nesbitt, president of the student body at NC A&T, began to protest. The first protest took place in 1959 down the street of Market Street in Greensboro. As Moore Sr. said We were all nervous to be in such a hostile environment, where people who opposed us could do or say anything they felt necessary. It did not take long for his apprehensions to come true, he remembers the moment where he was walking down Market Street and a white woman yelled to him Hey nigger, turn around, I got something for you, and then the woman proceeded to spit at

him and it hit his chin. Moore Sr. immediately felt enraged by this act, he said to the woman I should spit back at you, but Im better than that. I am fighting for something that is bigger and mightier than you will ever be. Although that act disturbed Moore Sr., he continued to be a part of the sit-ins movement because as he said This movement was not just about me, it was about the injustice for African Americans as a whole. As he reflects back to that period in time, Moore Sr. is glad that he decided to be a part of the movement. He said that the movement affected him more positively then negatively due to the fact that he can now deal with opposition of any kind well. Some of his most difficult but defining moments of his life came from the sit-in movements, he said. He recalls having to face such things as segregated bathrooms, water fountains, and even being demeaned by being called the word boy by white people when he was actually a man. Also amongst those things, they were treated as a second-class race by such things as being given passed down schoolbooks from the white schools. He said I never was happy with being classified as second class, and I was just not going to be labeled that way. Moore Sr. stated that the hard work and supporting environment that the NC A&T students had were the main reason that the Woolworths lunch counter opened for blacks to sit at in the year 1960. He remembers the unity that the students felt at that time around campus knowing that their hard work paid off, as he said Us students were not willing to let each other stand alone, we were a united group, standing as one. This kind of unity was exemplified when they walked out of a speech given by the Governor of North Carolina on the campus of NC A&T.

After Moore Sr. graduated from North Carolina A&T in the year 1959, he did not stop his work in the rights for blacks. Years later, when teaching at Highland High School in Gastonia, NC, he designed a program for black students to help them with job opportunities. The program was called Industrial Corporal Training (ICT), and it was responsible for some of the most historic moments in the county of Gaston. Two of Moore Sr.s proudest moments of the program was helping get a job for the first black female and male in Gaston County in the textile industry and at the retail store, Belks. This was a major event in not only Gaston County, but in North Carolina in general because as Moore Sr. said This was the first time in history where blacks were allowed to work in a public place such as Belks or in the textile factories. After finishing his work with the ICT program, Moore Sr. continued his work by becoming the president of the Gaston County Organization for Community Concerns (GCOCC), which was an organization that helped open the doors for successful opportunities for blacks in all areas for the past 28 years. Nevertheless, Moore Sr. was not finished with his work at just that point. He went on to also become the president of the North Carolina Association for Educators (NCAE). Moore Sr.s purpose on heading that organization was to press the issue of dismantling the existence of two separate teacher organizations, one for blacks and one for whites. He eventually became successful in his goal of dismantling the two after much turmoil. As his daughter-in-law Daphne Moore said in an interview about Moore Sr. I am truly fascinated and inspired by the tenacity and courage that he exemplified in not only the battle for civil rights, but also by being able to expand that push for civil rights and

make sure people of African American race have opportunities that were not provided to him during the time when he was growing up. His constant push and advocacy for equality and success for blacks throughout all areas still maintains true today. Moore Sr. believes that our society today is taking steps back in the progress of racial equality. This main belief stems from recent problems that we have faced, he said I thought the country was moving forward with racial relations through the years of the Clinton and Kennedy presidencies, but I have noticed that we have reverted back to some of our past racial tendencies. There has been a fall back to racism through such things as job inequality and hate crimes. Also he believes that racism has not gone away but has become institutionalized. The election of Barack Obama has seemed to spark the hidden racism that has always been there under our noses, we just did not see it. We are starting to see people not care about hiding their racism now and just let it show through a downright mean way, Moore Sr. said. Although he believes that our society is without a doubt having a problem with racial relations, Moore Sr. believes there is hope for change. He believes that because of his past experiences with things such as the Greensboro sit-ins movement as he said I have gained strength and knowledge that allows me to know that things will only get better if you stand up and fight for what you believe in. This message holds true meaning for his son David Moore Jr., who said in an interview about the senior Moore My father has always preached to me that it is not enough to stand by and say I believe everyone deserves equality, but we have a

responsibility to get up on our feet and do something about it. Without my father, I would have never learned such an important lesson. I believe that working together is the new strength of America. We should learn to not have prejudice based on race but through character. I believe that we should not look at people on the basis of their origin, but on the basis of their morals and character. God created this world for all of us, and as citizens we are responsible to live in it as he planned, Moore Sr. said.

David Moore Sr. poses for a photo for the Gaston County Organization for Community Concerns (GCOCC), an organization he has been president of for the past 28 years.