Ethel Johnson Moore was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on April 30, 1889, to Samuel Henry Johnson and Lula (Carr) Johnson. Her father, an engineer by trade, became one of the first African American members of the Lawrence school board when he filled an un-expired term of another board member from August 1891-April 1892. The family moved to Alexandria, Indiana, in 1895, residing there until the Mr. Johnson's death in 1906, upon which her mother moved the family back to Lawrence. Ethel, the oldest of eight children, discontinued school in order to help raise her younger siblings. Her mother later married George Irving. Ethel received teacher training, but these aspirations were redirected when she went to work for Mrs. Jimmy Green, wife of the Dean of the School of Law at the University of Kansas. At the age of twenty-four, Ethel married Milton M. Moore; they had seven children. Throughout her life, Ethel, along with her sister, Lois Johnson Branch, was an active participant in local and national organizations affiliated with both the Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal Church. Ethel Moore died in January 1983.
From the guide to the Ethel Moore family papers, 1900-1983, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
