Aaron McDuffie Moore facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Aaron McDuffie Moore
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| Born | September 6, 1863 Rosindale, North Carolina
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| Died | April 29, 1923 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Doctor |
Aaron McDuffie Moore, M.D. (September 6, 1863 – April 29, 1923) was a very important doctor and leader in North Carolina. He was the first Black medical doctor in Durham, North Carolina. He helped create many important businesses and organizations for African Americans.
Dr. Moore was a key figure in the African-American community. He founded Lincoln Hospital. This hospital served Black patients during a time when people were separated by race. He also helped start the North Carolina Mutual Life Company. This company became the biggest Black-owned business in the country. Dr. Moore worked hard to improve life for African Americans in Durham. He helped improve healthcare, the economy, and even helped bridge gaps between Black and White communities.
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Early Life and Education
Aaron McDuffie Moore was born on September 6, 1863. His parents were Israel Moore and Anna Eliza Spaulding Moore. His family had owned land in Columbus County, North Carolina, for a long time. They were free farmers.
Aaron had nine brothers and sisters. He worked on the family farm during planting and harvesting times. He also went to the local school, which was only for Black children. After finishing 8th grade, he became a teacher at the same school.
Pursuing Higher Education
Moore wanted to learn more. He went to Whitin Normal School in Lumberton. Then he attended the Normal School in Fayetteville. These schools trained teachers. Education was seen as very important for formerly enslaved people. They needed Black teachers for the separate schools. After his first term at Fayetteville, his father called him home to help on the farm.
Becoming a Doctor
In 1885, Moore decided to go to Shaw University in Raleigh. This was a historically black college. He first planned to become a professor. But his teachers saw his potential and encouraged him to study medicine.
Moore joined Shaw University's Leonard Medical School. He finished the four-year program in just three years! In 1888, he took the medical exams for North Carolina. He passed and ranked second out of 46 candidates. Thirty of those candidates were white. After becoming a certified Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Moore chose to practice in Durham. He became the city's first Black medical doctor.
Marriage and Family
In 1889, Dr. Moore married Cottie S. Dancy. She was the niece of John C. Dancy, a well-known African-American Republican in North Carolina. They started a family together.
Early Political Interest
Moore was interested in politics. In 1888, he was nominated to be the coroner of Durham County. But his campaign faced a lot of opposition from the white community. Newspapers at the time showed this resistance.
Dr. Moore's campaign faced racial discrimination. This was common during those years. White leaders were trying to keep control. By the end of the century, they passed laws that stopped Black people from voting. This lasted until the 1960s. Moore was discouraged by the strong opposition. He decided to withdraw from the campaign. Instead, he focused on supporting candidates who would help the Durham community.
Building Black Businesses
Investing in the Community
In 1895, Dr. Moore started investing in new businesses owned by Black people. He wanted to help the community grow. He also wanted to create jobs for educated Black professionals. The Durham Drug Company was his first business venture. This pharmacy gave young Black pharmacists a chance to work. It also served Durham's African-American community with respect.
The pharmacy didn't make a lot of money. But making a profit wasn't Dr. Moore's main goal. His priority was to provide affordable medicine to the Black community. He believed that Black-owned businesses could help African Americans achieve success. After this first business, he became involved in many other Black business projects in Durham. Through this work, Moore built strong relationships. One important person he met was John Merrick. They would later start the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company together.
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
In October 1898, Dr. Moore, John Merrick, and six other Black men met in Moore's office. They wanted to create an insurance company. Their goal was to "help Negro families in distress." They were inspired by similar companies started by Black people in Richmond, Virginia. Each man promised to invest $50 in the company. They agreed to create a plan for the business. This plan would be presented to the State Assembly in January 1899.
The plan was approved. The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association opened on April 1, 1899. Dr. Moore served as its treasurer and medical director. He did this without pay. He even rented part of his office to the association for $2 a month. This showed his strong commitment to the Black community.
By 1900, the company faced financial problems. More people were making claims. Dr. Moore and John Merrick used their own money to help the company. The other founders didn't want to put in more money. By July 1900, they left the company. Dr. Moore knew that African Americans needed insurance. He strongly believed that North Carolina Mutual had a duty to the Black community. He felt that "to desert their policy holders was to discredit their people." So, Moore and Merrick bought the shares from the members who left. For leaders like Moore, businesses were not just about money. They were a way to improve conditions for the Black community.
Moore became the secretary, and his nephew, C. C. Spaulding, helped sell insurance policies. The teamwork between Moore, Spaulding, and Merrick (who became President) made North Carolina Mutual a strong company. In 1919, the company changed its name to North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. When Merrick died that year, Dr. Moore became the president. He remained president until his death in 1923. As president, Moore insisted that the company always remember its original purpose:
There was a larger truth… if the Company cannot live on truth, then let her go.
Dr. Aaron Moore made sure North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company focused on "service." It provided much-needed insurance to the African-American community in Durham. Having reliable insurance meant people could afford medical care when they needed it.
Through North Carolina Mutual, Moore also helped the Black community in Durham become more prosperous. Other Black leaders were inspired by his success. They started new businesses, like the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in 1907. They also founded Mutual Community Savings Bank in 1921. As Black businesses grew, a strong business area developed in downtown Durham. This area became known as the Black Wall Street.
The Black business movement greatly improved race relations in Durham. While other cities had racial tension, Durham's white citizens often supported Black businessmen. They saw that the success of Black businesses helped the whole city. Dr. Moore was a key person who helped Durham grow and made social progress possible.
Founding Lincoln Hospital
Dr. Aaron Moore founded Lincoln Hospital in 1901. Earlier, in 1895, Watts Hospital was built. But it only served white patients. Dr. Moore saw that the African-American community needed a hospital. In 1898, he bravely suggested building a hospital for Black people. Some people thought a separate wing for Black patients could be added to the city hospital. But Moore disagreed. He knew Black doctors and nurses would not be allowed to work there.
With John Merrick's help, Moore raised money for the hospital. He raised $25,000 from the Black community. He also raised $100,000 from the white community. The Duke family gave $75,000 of that amount. The Dukes contributed because Moore showed them how important the hospital was. They also had a good relationship with Merrick. Moore managed the building of Lincoln Hospital. It was finished in 1901. He was the hospital's Superintendent until he died in 1923.
Under Moore's leadership, the hospital treated patients even if they couldn't pay. More and more people used the hospital. By 1914, a new section was added. Moore also saw the need to train Black nurses. So, in 1903, he started the Lincoln Hospital Training School of Nursing. When he died in 1923, Moore left three properties to the hospital. The money from these properties would help fund students at the nursing school.
Lincoln Hospital was one of Moore's biggest achievements. It greatly improved healthcare in Durham. It also made life better for the African-American community. By starting the nursing school, Moore made sure there would be trained healthcare workers for Black citizens in Durham.
Lincoln Hospital received money from both Black and white communities. This made it a symbol of people working together for a common goal. Moore's success in getting white support was amazing. This was a time of racial discrimination. But Moore was respected for his skills. He could talk to white leaders as equals. Some white people saw their contributions as thanks for what they believed was Black support during the Civil War. This message was written at the entrance of Lincoln Hospital:
With grateful appreciation and loving remembrance of the fidelity and faithfulness of the Negro slaves to the Mothers and Daughters of the Confederacy, during the Civil War, this institution was founded by one of the Fathers and Sons.
Today, Lincoln Hospital is part of Duke Regional Hospital. It merged with Watts Hospital in 1976.
Improving Education
Dr. Moore strongly supported education for the African-American community. He was on the Board of Trustees at Shaw University, his old school. He was also one of the biggest donors to the school. He started a library for Black people in Durham. This library later became the Stanford L. Warren branch of the Durham County Public Library in 1940.
Moore also worked to improve rural schools for Black children in North Carolina. He formed clubs like the Volkemenia and Shubert-Shakespeare clubs. These clubs gave African Americans access to concerts, speakers, and reading sessions.
Helping Rural Schools
Dr. Moore knew firsthand about rural schools. These schools usually received less money from white local and state school authorities. In a letter on April 26, 1915, Moore wrote about the need to improve rural schools:
These people in the main have not had enough schooling either to fit them for the demands of urban life or to make them content in the rural districts. The consequence is that a large percentage of them recruit the criminal class in the towns or remain in the rural districts as discouraged and nonproductive constituents... This failure on the part of the rural schools has become more apparent in recent years than before. In a rough way, the lessening of interest in the rural school and its problems has been coincidental with the disfranchisement of the colored voter… At present the appropriations by the Durham County Board average twice as much for each white child enrolled as for each colored child. Doubtless, the same discrimination is a common practice in all of the counties of the state in a greater or less degree.
From 1914 until his death in 1923, Dr. Moore focused on making rural schools better for Black children. He even hired George W. Davis, North Carolina's first rural school inspector, using his own money. Moore wanted to show how bad the conditions were in these schools.
Moore raised money for the schools through the Rosenwald Fund. This fund was started by a kind person named Julius Rosenwald from Chicago. It helped build rural schools, especially for African-American children, whose schools were underfunded. The Fund would give money if local communities also raised money. It also required white school boards to commit to the project. Black parents were so eager for schools that they often paid taxes themselves. To encourage school involvement, he suggested that schools should "put down dollar for dollar for its own improvements." After Moore's success, the state of North Carolina took over his work. The North Carolina Teachers' Association made him the Secretary-Treasurer of its Rural School Extension Department. He held this position until 1922.
Legacy
Dr. Moore was a groundbreaking Black leader during a time of racial separation. He is remembered as someone who "went beyond his times." He was able to stand as an equal with white leaders. Using this respect, he improved life for the African American community in Durham and North Carolina. He did this through his work in education, healthcare, and business.
For the African American community, who had limited rights, "he emerges from the history of Black Durham as a Messiah moving quietly among the people, giving aid and comfort." Race relations in Durham also got better because of Dr. Moore's leadership in the Black business movement. This led to a time of cooperation between Black and White business leaders. His work with the White community on projects like Lincoln Hospital also helped build stronger connections between the two races. Today, Lincoln Hospital is seen as "a monument of [the] spirit of racial cooperation." Dr. Moore also spoke out strongly against unfair racial laws and discrimination. His actions were part of a larger movement that eventually brought racial equality to North Carolina and the United States.
Today, a historic marker stands at 1201 Fayetteville Rd, Durham, N.C. It honors the important contributions of Dr. Aaron Moore.
Posthumous Recognition
Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore was honored at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony on November 2, 2019. This recognition was given to 29 people who helped shape Durham in important ways.
