A new student-produced multimedia journalism project spotlighting the story of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, civil rights activists killed in 1951 in Brevard County, has been posted on the website of WUCF TV, Central Florida’s PBS station.
The Road to Freedom Avenue – The Legacy of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, a project featuring audio, visual and written content, was produced by students in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media to carry on the legacy of the couple.
The Moores were educators and activists in Mims, and he established the first NAACP chapter in the county. On Christmas night 1951 their house was bombed by white supremacists while they slept, causing their deaths. A replica of their home was built on their street, Freedom Avenue, and several markers, a museum and many local residents still carry their message.
Their legacy is something that can be preserved through storytelling projects like this, says Phil Hoffman, WUCF’s executive director.
Rick Brunson, senior instructor of journalism, said the project started with a Facebook post. Moved to action after reading about the racism and domestic terrorism that gripped Central Florida in the 1940s and ‘50s, Brunson visited the Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Cultural Complex in Mims to learn more and pay his respects. When he shared his experience on social media, Hoffman contacted him and suggested the student project.
“WUCF would not be fulfilling its role as Central Florida’s Storytellers without partnering with community producers to tell even the most difficult stories,” Hoffman says. “During this time of racial reckoning in our country, it is important to tell these stories of people who worked for justice to help educate and engage our audience in this meaningful conversation.”
Brunson says he is appreciative the project came to fruition.
“It was so gratifying for the students and such a privilege to honor the Moores’ legacy and the impact their lives continue to have on Central Florida and beyond,” he says.
