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On Christmas night 1951, Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriet, joined the ranks of civil rights martyrs when the KKK bombed their home, killing them both. ^{This occasion honors them and}

Moore's successor was Robert W. Saunders, Sr., who died this^last year. When Bob Saunders replaced Harry T. Moore, he stepped into big footprints, but he more than filled them. He was brave and daring and innovative and hard working -- and we all miss him terribly.

After Brown v. Board, Thurgood Marshall targeted Florida, saying of the state:

"We found not one instance on the part of the political leadership . . . to even consider the possibility of desegregating."

The NAACP sued the school system here in Dade County.

Florida fought back. They formed an infamous body, known as the Johns Committee, to investigate the NAACP, and it "embarked on a witch-hunt that would last for years."

But the NAACP helped to force desegregation in the public schools of 20 Florida counties and attacked segregation statewide -- at service stations, cafeterias, in the Florida National Guard, and the University of Florida. The list goes on and on.

As Bob Saunders wrote of the NAACP's role in Florida during the 1960s,

"We welcomed others to the fight. . . . Still, we were here before the others came, and we were there after some of them left."ⁱⁱⁱ

And we're still here!

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