Moore, Richard B. (Richard Benjamin)

Born in Barbados in 1893, Richard Benjamin Moore was a civil rights advocate, communist leader and intellectual, a bibliophile and a champion of Caribbean and African self-determination, who migrated to the United States in 1909 and played an influential role in social and political circles in Harlem for more than fifty years.

Moore's early organizing efforts included a 1915 unsuccessful import-export venture known as the Harlem Pioneer Cooperative Society, a printing shop and the Harlem Tenants League, which lobbied the New York State Legislature for rent control and better housing conditions in Harlem. His lasting contributions, however, were his leadership role in the African Blood Brotherhood organization in the early 1920s, and in the International Legal Defense which spearheaded the legal defense of the "Scottsboro Boys."

An outspoken Pan-Africanist intellectual, Moore addressed international congresses on Africa in the 1920s, drafted resolutions calling for an end to colonial rule and helped organize mass protests and relief efforts during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930s. He played a leading role in several Caribbean advocacy groups in the United States, including the West Indies Defense Committee and the West Indies National Emergency Committee. He circulated an appeal for self-determination of Caribbean and colonial peoples at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, and led a delegation of Caribbean Americans in petitioning the British government on the subject of West Indian federation and self-government.

Moore was also an author, lecturer and political analyst. He published a memorial edition of "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" in 1941. He operated the Frederick Douglas Book Centre in Harlem for nearly thirty years and was the founder of the Afroamerican Institute. An acknowledged bibliophile, his collection of more than 15,000 books and publications relating to Africa and the black world is now housed at the library of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. Moore pioneered efforts in the 1960s to replace the name "Negro" with the term "Afro-American." He also wrote and published a pamphlet in defense of the Carib Indians, and helped revive T. Albert Marryshow's work, "Cycles of Civilization." Richard B. Moore died in 1978.

Born in Barbados in 1893, Richard Benjamin Moore was a civil rights advocate, communist leader and intellectual, a bibliophile and a champion of Caribbean and African self-determination, who migrated to the United States in 1909 and played an influential role in social and political circles in Harlem for more than fifty years.

Moore's early organizing efforts included a 1915 unsuccessful import-export venture known as the Harlem Pioneer Cooperative Society, a printing shop and the Harlem Tenants League, which lobbied the New York State Legislature for rent control and better housing conditions in Harlem. His lasting contributions, however, were his leadership role in the African Blood Brotherhood organization in the early 1920s, and in the International Legal Defense which spearheaded the legal defense of the "Scottsboro Boys.".

An outspoken Pan-Africanist intellectual, Moore addressed international congresses on Africa in the 1920s, drafted resolutions calling for an end to colonial rule and helped organize mass protests and relief efforts during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930s. He played a leading role in several Caribbean advocacy groups in the United States, including the West Indies Defense Committee and the West Indies National Emergency Committee. He circulated an appeal for self-determination of Caribbean and colonial peoples at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, and led a delegation of Caribbean Americans in petitioning the British government on the subject of West Indian federation and self-government.

Moore was also an author, lecturer and political analyst. He published a memorial edition of "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" in 1941. He operated the Frederick Douglas Book Centre in Harlem for nearly thirty years and was the founder of the Afroamerican Institute. An acknowledged bibliophile, his collection of more than 15,000 books and publications relating to Africa and the black world is now housed at the library of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. Moore pioneered efforts in the 1960s to replace the name "Negro" with the term "Afro-American." He also wrote and published a pamphlet in defense of the Carib Indians, and helped revive T. Albert Marryshow's work, "Cycles of Civilization." Richard B. Moore died in 1978.