Ethel May Moore (1889–1983)

Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Mrs. Moore was a prominent local and state leader of African American religious, civic, and educational organizations during a time when practices of racial exclusion and discrimination were legal. By adhering to the womanist tradition of community uplift through collective action, she volunteered her talents and skills to a network of organizations that provided African Americans with the resources and spiritual strength required to overcome the barriers of Jim Crow. At an early age, she acquired a love for reading. Her parents gave books as reward to her and her siblings and placed a high value on formal education. When her father died in 1904, she was forced to drop out of Lawrence High School to help her mother earn a living, abandoning her youthful ambition to become a schoolteacher. However, she did not give up her love of reading and was a frequent patron of the Lawrence Public Library. In 1978, at the age of 89, Mrs. Moore completed her high school education through the General Equivalency Diploma Test and became one of the oldest Kansas women to earn the award. For most of her adult life, she also found ways to improve her community. Along with her responsibilities as a wife, mother and wage earner, she served as Sunday school superintendent and sponsor of the junior mission at First Regular Missionary Baptist Church, president of the Interstate Literary Association of Kansas, and president of the Lincoln School Parent Teachers Association of Lawrence, Kansas. In addition, she was an active member of numerous local organizations, including the Sierre Leone Club, the Lawrence League for the Practice of Democracy, the United Church Women’s Club, and the Home Garden Club.

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