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Reginald Moore Houston area community activism collection

 Collection
Identifier: MS 653
Finding aid note: Stored onsite at Woodson Research Center.

Scope and Contents

This collection represents the community activism efforts of Mr. Reginald Moore, which has often taken the form of researching topics as represented in newspaper accounts, requesting government records on the topics, and corresponding with officials and engaging in public testimony.

Private Sector Initiatives / Home Savers initiative - church based effort which Mr. Moore either led or was just deeply involved in to get the black community out participating in assisting fellow African Americans in repairing their homes via volunteer efforts. (Holman Street)

Houston Community College - misappropriation of funds

Housing and Urban Development, later renamed as Housing and Community Development, funding shortages. Mr. Moore involved in seeking government records and providing public testimony.

Prison reform - experience as correctional officer, research in newspapers, sharing ideas and opinions in public forums such as call-in radio shows (not documented in this collection) and corresponding with public officials regarding legislation for eVerification as a tool to facilitate employment of ex-convicts.

Wards and churches in Houston -- research in newspapers, public testimony (in collection, including Antioch Church video testimony at City Council)

Yates High School public testimony lobbying to save the building, Houston City Council 2/09/2016 video

Additional methods of activism which are not specifically documented in this collection include frequent radio show call-ins regarding issues relevant to the AFrican American community, for example with the Rev. Jesse Jackson's show "Keep Hope Alive" and Houston radio station Magic 102.1.

Dates

  • 2000 - 2016

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored onsite at Woodson Research Center.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish from this material must be facilitated through the Woodson Research Center, woodson@rice.edu.

Biographical / Historical

Reginald Moore, of Sugar Land, Texas, is an historian and has a certification in Community Economic Development from the College of Biblical Studies. He is also a community activist, and has a particular interest in prison reform and prison re-entry into society. He served as a correctional officer in the Texas Department of Corrections, 1985-1988. Mr. Moore worked in the Beauford H. Jester I and III Units, a prison farm located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas. Jester I Farm was the first built by the state at this site, and was known as the Old Harlem Farm. Although convict leasing as a practice is believed to have begun informally in 1872, the State of Texas sanctioned the contract to lease the penal system to the private firm of Ed H. Cunningham and L.A. Ellis (Cunningham and Ellis) in 1878. In 1883, the land and system reverted from private to state control. While working at this site, Mr. Moore became interested in the history of the Flanagan House (former warden's house) and then in the Central Unit of the prison. Over time, this interest grew and became a major research area for Mr. Moore, who went on to found and chair the Texas Slave Descendants' Society(TSDS) in the early 2000’s. Through the TSDS and on his own, Mr. Moore, has worked to gain recognition for the past abuses associated with Sugar Land’s convict leasing system. Mr. Moore serves as a member of the RIP Guardian program for the Imperial Prison Cemetery.

Additionally, Mr. Moore has worked to bring attention to other topics such as modern day prison reform, mis-use of public funds, and preservation of Houston's historically African American wards and churches.

Resources of interest: CNN film "American Jail" https://www.cnn.com/shows/american-jail-film, access July 3, 2018

Extent

2 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

5 Gigabytes (Audio and video files from public testimony)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

This collection represents the community activism efforts of Mr. Reginald Moore, which has often taken the form of researching topics as represented in newspaper accounts, requesting government records on the topics, and corresponding with officials and engaging in public testimony.

Private Sector Initiatives / Home Savers initiative - church based effort which Mr. Moore either led or was just deeply involved in to get the black community out participating in assisting fellow African Americans in repairing their homes via volunteer efforts. (Holman Street)

Houston Community College - misappropriation of funds

Housing and Urban Development, later renamed as Housing and Community Development, funding shortages. Mr. Moore involved in seeking government records and providing public testimony.

Prison reform - experience as correctional officer, research in newspapers, sharing ideas and opinions in public forums such as call-in radio shows (not documented in this collection) and corresponding with public officials regarding legislation for eVerification as a tool to facilitate employment of ex-convicts.

Wards and churches in Houston -- research in newspapers, public testimony (in collection, including Antioch Church video testimony at City Council)

Yates High School public testimony lobbying to save the building, Houston City Council 2/09/2016 video

Additional methods of activism which are not specifically documented in this collection include frequent radio show call-ins regarding issues relevant to the AFrican American community, for example with the Rev. Jesse Jackson's show "Keep Hope Alive" and Houston radio station Magic 102.1.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Mr. Reginald Moore.

Reginald Moore can be contacted by phone.

To contact him, please provide your phone number to the staff at the Woodson Research Center, at woodson@rice.edu or 713-348-2586. The staff will provide your request to Mr. Moore, in accordance with our donor privacy policy. Thank you very much.

Related Materials

Reginald Moore featured as caller on C-Span television show Dec. 27, 2017, "Angela J. Davis on Race and Criminal Justice Reform," online at https://www.c-span.org/video/?438867-3/washington-journal-angela-j-davis-discusses-race-criminal-justice-reform.

Processing Information

Additional audio and video added to this collection, Fall 2016.

Subjects

Record Groups

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Reginald Moore Houston area community activism collection, 2000-2016
Status
Completed
Author
Amanda Focke
Date
2016
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892