Evangeline Moore reflects on her childhood, living under constant threat

HOUGHTON -- The last thing Susan Carol McCarthy did before she published Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands was track down Evangeline Moore. She wanted the blessing of the lone surviving daughter of Harry T. and Harriette M. Moore before publicizing the story surrounding her parents' 1951 murder by the Klan.

In a recent presentation at Finlandia University, Evangeline Moore, left, daughter of slain Civil Rights leader Harry T. Moore and Harriette M. Moore, victims of Ku Klux Klan violence in the 1950s, joins Susan Carol McCarthy, author of Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, in relating events affecting the families of both women. McCarthy and Moore also spoke at Michigan Tech University. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

McCarthy's own father had known Harry T. Moore and had worked with the FBI to build a case against Florida Klan members involved in a string of terror attacks against blacks, Jews and Catholics. The spree ended with a fatal Christmas Day bombing at the Moores' house.

When Evangeline Moore read the manuscript, she approved. "She said, 'That's my daddy,'" McCarthy said. Now the daughters of two civil rights activists are friends and tour the country giving talks on McCarthy's book, which was Michigan Tech University's 2009 summer reading selection for first-year students.

Finlandia University students are also reading and discussing the book. McCarthy and Moore recently gave presentations at both universities.

Read the rest of this second article on their visit by Marcia Goodrich, MTU senior writer, in the Sept. 2 issue of Tech Today.