Reginald Moore is an historian and community activist, and has a particular interest in prison reform and prison re-entry into society. He served as a correctional officer in the Texas Department of Corrections, 1985-1988. Mr. Moore worked in the Beauford H. Jester I and III Units, a prison farm located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas. While working at this site, Mr. Moore became interested in the history of the Flanagan House (former warden’s house) and then in the Central Unit of the prison. Over time, this interest grew and became a major research area for Mr. Moore, who went on to found and chair the Texas Slave Descendants’ Society (TSDS) in the early 2000’s. Through the TSDS and on his own, Mr. Moore, has worked to gain recognition for the past abuses associated with Sugar Land’s convict leasing system.
His work has become nationally known as the result of the 2018 discovery of the remains of 95 African-American people on a Fort Bend ISD construction site. Mr. Moore founded the Convict Labor and Leasing Project and donated his papers to Rice University’s Woodson Research Library in 2015.
(Spring 2020)