December 25, 1951: A Bloody Christmas for Civil Rights

Harriette (left) and Harry Moore

December 25, 1951: A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore, President of the Florida branch of the NAACP, in Mims, Florida, not far from Cape Canaveral.

Moore was born on February 18, 1905, in Houston, on the Florida Panhandle, about halfway between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. By the early 1930s, he was secretary for the Florida chapter of the NAACP. He worked on housing and education, investigated lynchings, and registered black voters. By 1950, 31 percent of eligible black people in Florida were registered to vote, more than in any other Southern State.

But on the night of December 25, 1951, a bomb exploded at his house in Mims. The local hospital in Titusville would not treat black people, Moore was taken to the nearest one that would, 30 miles away in Sanford, and he died en route. He was 46 years old. His wife, teacher Harriette Moore, died from her injuries 9 days later, on January 3, 1952, at the Sanford hospital. She was 49.

The FBI investigated the murder, but not with any enthusiasm, and no one was ever prosecuted for it. In 2006, a State investigation suggested the perpetrators were 4 members of the Ku Klux Klan, all of them dead by that point, so there was nothing that could be done.

Moore was the 1st NAACP member to be assassinated for civil rights activism, and he and Harriette were the only husband and wife killed for it. They are considered the first martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. Much of the community of Mims is now part of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park.

Also on this day, Los Angeles policemen attack 5 Mexican-American and 2 white young men, leading to their hospitalization. Although they all survived, it became known as "Bloody Christmas." While 8 police officers were indicted, none were imprisoned. The event would be fictionalized in the 1990 novel and 1997 film L.A. Confidential.

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December 25, 1951 was a Tuesday. Four games were played in the NBA, including a doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. In the opener, the Syracuse Nationals beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 70-65. In the nightcap, the New York Knicks beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 72-65.

Also, the Rochester Royals beat the Indianapolis Olympians, 87-78 at the Edgerton Park Arena. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Boston Celtics, 100-93 at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

Two games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium. And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 6-2 at the Boston Garden.

And in English soccer, Arsenal F.C. hosted Hampshire team Portsmouth at Highbury in North London, and won 4-1 on goals by Lewis, Logie, Freddie Cox and Peter Goring.