WILLIAM J. MOORE

1871-1952

0.25 ft.

MSS 121

by

Monique Bourque

June 1993

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

William J. Moore was born in Philadelphia ca. 1872, and grew up in West Chester.  He graduated from West Chester High School in 1890, and completed the Normal School program at Howard University in 1892.  He taught school in West Chester before settling in Cape May, New Jersey.  He married shortly after moving to Cape May and he and his wife had seven children.  He founded an elementary and junior high school for Black children in Cape May and was its principal for 52 years.  He worked as a tennis coach at a local country club in the summers.  He died in 1973.

PROVENANCE

The collection was donated by Wilbur Moore in 1975.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection is of primary interest for its observations on race relations in a middle-class community in the early twentieth century.  Included are drafts of Moore's autobiography, a series of writings on race relations which may have been intended as a book manuscript, notes on the history of Cape May and some of its inhabitants, and personal documents, including the marriage certificate of Moore's parents.  Photographs have been separated to Photo Group 338.