Rowena Moore

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Rowena Moore
Born(1910-09-10)September 10, 1910
Meridian, Oklahoma U.S.
DiedDecember 15, 1998(1998-12-15) (aged 88)
Omaha, Nebraska U.S.
OccupationCommunity activist

Rowena Moore (September 10, 1910 – December 15, 1998)

Memorial Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska. She led the effort to have the Malcolm X House Site recognized for its association with the life of the national civil-rights leader. It was listed on both the National Register of Historic Places
and the Nebraska register of historic sites.

Early life

Moore was born in Meridian, Oklahoma. When her father got a job in the meatpacking industry in 1924, her family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. She first worked in a packing plant at age 15, though she claimed to be 16 to get a job scraping fat off animals' hindquarters.[2]

Career

During

South Omaha packing houses to stop discriminating against black women. Soon after, Moore and some 400 other women were hired. Moore worked in the meatpacking industry for twenty years, managing to retain her position after veterans returned from the war.[4]

Moore rose to become secretary of the meat cutters’ local union. In 1948, she became secretary of the Omaha Metropolitan Labor Council. She further challenged discrimination in the 1950s, when the meatpacking plants attempted to restrict employment.[5] These actions led to Moore's getting fired from the plants; however, she maintained her passion to fight for social justice.

Moore was elected chairwoman of the

Malcolm X Memorial Foundation. Her family made their five lots the basis of the foundation's site, eventually acquiring more than 60 lots for the center.[6]
She led an effort to have the site recognized (the house was torn down in 1965 before the family recognized its association with the life of Malcolm X.) Today the Foundation works to advance cultural and educational issues.

The Foundation has preserved the Malcolm X House Site, 3448 Pinkney Street, and gained its recognition as a Nebraska historical heritage site and listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Foundation has plans to develop the property as a park and link it to a nearby municipal park.[7]

Moore continued to look for ways to honor Malcolm X's legacy. In 1989 she proposed renaming the

North Omaha Freeway as the Malcolm X Freeway.[8] She led an early 1990s gathering with the African-American Progressive Action Network and the National Malcolm X Commemoration Commission to celebrate Malcolm X's life.[9]

In addition to her work in meatpacking and her public life, Moore owned a grocery store in the 1950s, managed several musical[10] quartets and produced a movie, "The Sacred Beauty," which starred another Omaha woman.

Personal life

In 1927, she married. She and her husband, who later divorced,[11] had a son.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rowena Moore - United States Social Security Death Index". FamilySearch. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. ^ Nygren, Judith. "Activist Rowena Moore Dies; Fought Discriminatory Hiring". No. January 1, 1999. Omaha World-Herald.
  3. ^ Horowitz, R. and Halpern, R. (1999). Work, Race, and Identity: Self-Representation in the Narratives of Black Packinghouse Workers, Oral History Association.
  4. ^ (nd) "The West Out Loud: Western Community", Collaborative Digitization Program, Retrieved 4/27/07, inactive link
  5. ^ Horowitz, R. and Halpern, R. (1999).
  6. ^ Smith, R. George (February 21, 1992). "Center Still Just a Dream Malcolm X Foundation Draws Limited Support Foundation Milestones Malcolm X Foundation Bought 66 Lots". Omaha World-Herald.
  7. ^ (nd) "Our Founder", Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Website, accessed 13 Jul 2008
  8. ^ (January 18, 1989) Letter from the Omaha mayor responding to Moore.
  9. ^ Fuson, K. "Omaha woman never forgot legacy of Malcolm X", Des Moines Register.
  10. ^ Nygren, Judith (January 1, 1999). "Activist Rowena Moore Dies; Fought Discriminatory Hiring". Omaha World-Herald.
  11. ^ Nygren, Judith (January 1, 1999). "Activist Rowena Moore Dies; Fought Discriminatory Hiring". Omaha World-Herald.
  • Interview with Rowena Moore, Nebraska Black Oral History Project, digitized by Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska at Omaha Libraries; original held by History Nebraska.

Further reading

  • "I'm Been Ahead of My Time: Rowena Moore and Black Women's Activism in Omaha", pp. 85–99, in Halpern, R. and Horowitz, R. (1999), Meatpackers: An Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1999.
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