James Sanderlin, Margarita Romo, Harry Moore, Harriet Moore Join Fla. Civil Rights Hall of Fame

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has chosen Judge James. B. Sanderlin, Margarita Romo, Harry T. Moore and Harriet Moore to be inducted to the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

As Florida marks its 500-year anniversary, we want to honor individuals who have stood for equality in our states history, even in the face of adversity, said Scott. These champions of freedom have paved the way for equal rights among all Floridians.

The inductees were chosen from a list of 10 candidates prepared by the Florida Commission on Human Relations.

Judge James B. Sanderlin (1929-1990), of St. Petersburg, dedicated his life to fighting injustice and discrimination in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. In 1964, Sanderlin was the lead attorney representing six families in civil rights cases over classroom segregation. His efforts against the Pinellas County School Board led to desegregation in Hillsborough and Sarasota counties. Sanderlin also led a group of sanitation workers in a four-month strike for better pay for African-American sanitation workers in the city. As the lead attorney for a group of 12 black police officers known as the Courageous Twelve, Sanderlin won a lawsuit to end discriminatory assignments in segregated neighborhoods. He also worked with the NAACP Legal Defense Funding to fight discrimination. He was the first African-American Pinellas County judge.

Margarita Romo (1938-present) is currently the executive director of Farmworkers Self-Help Inc., assisting seasonal and migrant farm workers. Romo is an advocate for local migrant farmworkers in Pasco and Hernando counties, advocating and lobbying for improvements to Tommytown, a poor farm worker community on the north end of Dade City. Romo also established Agricultural Women Involved in New Goals (AWING), a self-help program designed to help women create better lives for themselves through education. In 2010, Romo was named Hispanic Woman of the Year by the Tampa Hispanic Heritage.

Harry T. Moore and Harriet Moore (1905-1951) both served as civil rights pioneers in the state. They advocated for civil rights in equal pay, investigation of lynching, all-white primaries and voter registration. Harry Moore founded the first branch of the NAACP in Brevard County and served as the statewide executive secretary. He also organized the Florida State Conference NAACP.

The Moores are considered by many to be the first martyrs of the civil rights movement. On Christmas 1951, a bomb exploded under the floor of the Moores' home in Sanford, fatally wounding the couple who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Though the FBI was called in, no suspects were ever indicted for the murder.