The Amzie Moore House in Cleveland, Mississippi

Why does this house matter?

For much of the 1950s and 1960s Amzie Moore's brick house in Cleveland was one of the safest places in the Delta for civil rights workers to sleep, eat and plan. Moore built it in 1941 with the help of a federal home loan, which the SNCC Digital Gateway says made him the first Black person in Bolivar County to receive one. He kept it well armed and brightly lit at night. Visit Cleveland MS says the house hosted local youth and community members as well as Bob Moses, Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King Jr., and that civil rights leaders met there.

What happened here in 1960 and after?

This is where Bob Moses came on his 1960 trip through Mississippi and heard Moore argue that voter registration in the Delta should come first. The plans that followed sent SNCC organizers into the Delta in 1962, including the group Moore introduced in Ruleville. Our page on Amzie Moore and SNCC tells that story.

What does the marker say?

Mississippi Freedom Trail marker No. 9, placed in 2012 by the Mississippi Development Authority's tourism division, summarizes Moore's life. It notes that he returned from World War II to become an early civil rights leader, co-founded the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, worked for the Postal Service from 1935 to 1968, persuaded Bob Moses to recruit students for Mississippi and set the stage for Freedom Summer, used New Hope Baptist Church as his main base until it was burned after an NAACP meeting, and in 1966 organized Cleveland's Head Start program.

How do I plan a visit?

The house is at 612 South Chrisman Avenue in Cleveland, about ten miles west of Ruleville, and the marker is at South Chrisman Avenue and Ruby Street. Combine it with the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden for a half-day trip. Check current museum hours before you go, and see our Ruleville guide for practical tips. This address, a_moore.html, comes from an earlier site on this domain; the full biography is at amzie_moore.html.