Triumphant Warrior
Wayne Moore
is a civil rights activist who is known internationally as a member of the
famous Wilmington Ten, one of nine young African American men and one white
woman who were wrongfully accused, tried, convicted and imprisoned for over
four years for firebombing a grocery store and conspiracy to assault emergency
personnel more than 40 years ago at the height of racial tensions in
Wilmington, North Carolina.
After his
release from prison, Moore attended Shaw University in North Carolina. He later
relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he joined Local 252 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers after being unsuccessful in finding
employment in his home town. He worked as an inside wireman for 26 years until
retirement in 2013.
In 2011, he
organized the 40th Commemoration of the Wilmington Ten in 2010. He
called for, and received, proclamations from both the city and county
government calling for the commemoration to be recognized as a “significant
part of Black History Month”. The mayor presented each member of the Ten a
written apology from the city, acknowledging that the Wilmington Ten had been
wronged.
Presently,
Moore is a member in good standing of St. Mary’s Lodge #4 of the Prince Hall
Masons. He remains active nationally in the civil rights movement as founder of
the Wilmington Ten Foundation for Social Justice. In his new book, “Triumphant
Warrior: Memoir of a Soul Survivor of The Wilmington Ten Soul Survivor” Moore
details his struggles and how he overcame them. Moore is committed to providing
a deeply rich and sensitive rendering of his experience with racism and the
justice system in the United States, and its continual criminalization of young
African Americans. He firmly believes that the challenges of race and equality
are just as much with us today as they were in the 1970s.
“My deepest desire is that these kinds of injustices continue to be
exposed, so that what happened to the Wilmington Ten won't continue to destroy
the lives of young black men. This Pardon of Innocence can't give me my life
back. It does however officially bestow on me the title of Triumphant Warrior.”
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