Biographical Note
Bai Tamiah
Moore was born in the village of Dimeh, 20 miles
from Monrovia, and
given the name Tamiah. Though the exact date of Moore’s birth was not recorded, it
has been approximated as either sometime in 1916 or in
October, 1920. The village in which he grew up was ruled
by the Dei ethnic group, but was also inhabited by the Gola, Vai, Mandingo, and
Bassa peoples. Moore’s parentage was both Vai and Gola, but he identified himself
as Vai, using the criteria of patrilineal descent, language, and name. He spoke the
indigenous languages of Gola, Vai, Vassa, and Dei. His maternal grandmother was a
great and respected storyteller in her home village of Janney. Both his ethnic
background and the importance of storytelling in his family were great influences in
his life.
Moore was the
sixth of seven children, with two older brothers, three older sisters, and one
younger brother. Moore's
father died while he was a young child, forcing his mother and his older
siblings to support the family. Because two of his older sisters were attending an
indigenous school for women in nearby Sande, his mother chose to remain in
Dimeh after her husband’s death, rather than return to her
home village of Janney. While he was still a young boy, Moore's oldest cousin convinced his
mother to allow Moore
to visit their relatives in Janney. This trip was
supposed to last only “a few moons,” but it stretched into a few years. Moore's stay in
Janney proved to be very influential in his life because he
was immersed and nurtured in the rich culture of the Gola ethnic group while living
with his mother’s family. Also as a result of his move to
Janney, Moore had his first taste of
western culture. After learning his distant cousin attended a mission school in
nearby Bendoo, Moore obtained permission to visit the school and to stay with the
missionaries who ran it. Soon after his arrival, he was enrolled as a student. There
was a large ethnic mix present at the school–Vai, Gola, Mandingo, Kpessi, Basso, Kru
and Americo-Liberian students attended. Moore learned English at Bendoo,
and there his name was changed to Johnson Moore—Johnson after Reverend R.
O. Johnson, and Moore after the Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia that
supported the mission. Mommie Bouey, one of the missionaries who ran the school, was
so impressed by Moore that she decided he should be given the opportunity to travel
to America.
After Moore's
mother and grandmother died, he returned to Janney uncertain
about whether he wanted to continue his schooling at Bendoo. During this period, he
was initiated into the Poro, the male society that educates adolescent boys in the
culture of the Gola and officially declares them to have reached manhood. It was at
the ceremony signifying his acceptance into the Poro that Moore was given the name Bai/Bye,
to be placed before his birth name Tamiah. Henceforth, he would be known as
Bai T. Moore
. After entering the Poro, he traveled extensively through Gola Country,
a journey that would forever flavor his writings.
On August 3, 1929, Mommie Bouey’s
promise of sending him to America
was finally fulfilled and he departed from Monrovia with Bouey’s husband, Reverend
Bouey. Mrs. Bouey and the reverend’s brother, John Bouey, met them when their ship,
the S. S. West Ke-Bar, docked in Philadelphia on September
4. From Philadelphia, the Boueys took Moore to Richmond, Virginia, where Moore attended the
public high school.
After graduating from high school in 1934, he went on to Virginia Union
University where he received a B.A. in biology in 1938. Though he considered going on to medical school, he was unable to
do so for lack of scholarship and personal funds. Moore instead began working in
Washington, D. C.
, while taking graduate courses at Howard
University.
Moore had a
number of interesting jobs during the twelve years he remained in the U.S.,
including working as newspaper boy,
busboy, dishwasher ,
bellhop and chauffeur.
Moore's
aptitude for writing was evident early in his education, particularly when he began
contributing to his high school’s publications. Moore's first attempts at writing
poetry imitated the voices and styles of American and European poets. When he began
to draw from his experiences in Liberia, it was clear that they would be a major source of
inspiration and material for his work in the future. He wrote primarily in English,
though he did occasionally write in the Vai language, as well.
After returning to Liberia in
1941, Bai T. Moore decided to explore his
ethnic heritage extensively. He traveled all over Liberia collecting Vai folktales, and those of other
ethnic groups, as well.
Moore then settled down to life as a writer, and in time, he accepted
a post as a government official. He first took on the position of Chief of the
Bureau of
Agriculture in the Liberian Department of the Interior, and in 1980, that of Deputy Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism. Upon retiring in 1986, he became a senior advisor and mentor for the
Liberian
Association of Writers/Society of Liberian Authors, where he worked
until his death of a heart attack on Sunday, January 10,
1988.
Major Works
-
1937.
Golah Boy in America.
Richmond,
VA: Quality Printing Co., 1937 .
A biographical sketch of his youth in Africa describing customs of the Golah
tribe and his journey to “Big” America.
-
1947.
Echoes from the Valley.
Robertsport, Liberia: D. Muir Printing
Office, 1947.
A collection of poems with Roland T.
Dempster and H. C. Thomas.
-
1962.
Ebony Dust.
Monrovia:
Ducor Publishing House, 1962.
A collection of poems. Reprinted in 1976.
-
1967.
Chips from the African Story
Tree.
A collection of Liberian folktales with S. Jangaba M. Johnson.
-
1968.
Murder in the Cassava Patch.
Monrovia: Ducor Publishing
House, 1968.
First published in serial form in the newspaper
Liberian Star, that same year it
was also published as a novel which was reprinted in 1976.
-
1974.
Voices from Grass Roots.
Liberia:
privately printed, 1974.
A collection of poems.
-
1976.
The Money Doubler
. Lagos & Unicom Books,
1976.
A novel.
-
1979.
Liberian Culture at a Glance .
Monrovia: Ministry of Information, Cultural
Affairs, and Tourism, 1979.
- N.D. Monkey Work,
Baboon Draw.
A novel. Unpublished.
- N.D.
Godchild.
A novel. Unpublished.
Scope and Content
The Conferences series consists of conferences, annual meetings, colloquiums and festivals Bai T.
Moore attended. The majority of materials in this series are from the Second
Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture and include
copies of the submitted conference papers.
The Correspondence series includes both personal and professional correspondence including exchanges
between Moore and Samuel Doe, Hubert
Humphrey, William Tolbert, and William Tubman. Excluded from
this series is correspondence with other organizations or agencies as those materials will
be found within those particular folders.
The
Ethnographic Materials series consists of
nine subseries. They are: Art and Crafts, Culture and History, Daily Life,
Ethnic Groups and Languages, Music
and Dance , Oral History and Folk Tales, Other African Materials , Poro and
Sandeand Village Profiles. Of particular note in
this series is the extensive collection of field notes in the Music
and Dance subseries and the Vai materials in the Ethnic
Groups and Languages subseries.
The
Government Agencies series reflects the
organization and hierarchy of the Liberian government. Much emphasis has been placed on
the Minsitry of Education subseries and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism subseries as
Moore worked for both agencies. The
University of Liberia
is another large subseries and is it's own separate government agency and not part of the
Ministry of Education.
The Organizations series contains materials from all of the numerous organizations Moore was affiliated with. Some of the
larger subseries include Organization of African Unity, Society of Liberian Authors and
UNESCO.
The Personal Materials series contains invitations, programs, receipts, greeting cards, legal information
and any other personal ephemera belong to Bai T.
Moore or his family.
In the Photographs series the majority of photos are unknown and undated. There is, however, a
folder of photos from Bai T. Moore's funeral and an album from
the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.
The
Subject Files series has a variety of
different materials that weren't easily housed elsewhere in the collection. Included are
materials such as bibliographies, handwritten notes, magazines and newsclippings,
religious materials and speeches. Two subseries, Presidents and Receipts, are also
included in this series. The Presidents subseries is divided into individual Liberian
presidents.
The
Writings series is divided into 4
subseries. The Manuscript subseries are all original works
by Bai T. Moore and include manuscripts from his most famous work, Murder in the Cassava Patch. The Plays subseries include a number of titles, many not penned by Moore The Poetry subseries includes Moore's original poems as well as anthologies he has worked on, general
reports on poetry and poems that he collected that were not his own. While it can be
assumed that all of the materials in the Unknown Manuscripts
subseries originated with Moore, there is no way to verify it thus
these materials have been separated out.
The Published Books series is divided into two subseries, By Bai T Moore
and Other Liberian and African Writings. The first being a
variety of titles and editions of Moore's work, the later being a listing of
books that Moore collected personally.