Bob Moses "Jim Crow hasn't gotten out of our public education system"

East End Ink presents civil rights activist and educator Bob Moses in a talk about equality, race and education recorded in August 2009.  Although over 5 years have passed, themes of the talk such as voting rights and the need to fix the education system for minority children are still in the news.

Moses, a leader of the 1960s struggle for racial equality, founded the Algebra Project that trains youth in the skills needed in the information age

Bob Moses was field secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC in the 1960s. He was director of SNCC's Mississippi Project that organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.  That party challenged the Mississippi regulars at the 1964 Democratic Convention.

From 1969 to 1976, he worked for the Ministry of Education in Tanzania, in East Africa, as chairperson of a school math department.

After doctoral studies in Philosophy at Harvard he developed The Algebra Project which grew out of his work as a parent- teacher in a Cambridge, Massachusetts school. 

The objective of The Algebra Project is to prepare rural and inner city youth for work in the information age. It operates in school districts throughout the country.
 
Bob Moses spoke to an informal group, including local educators, at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, Bridgehampton, New York in August 2009. Thanks to event organizer Kathy Engel!


Here is a portion of that talk.



Dr. Moses is the co-author with Charles E. Cobb, Jr. of Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi tothe Algebra Project published by Beacon Press.

and co-editor with Theresa Perry and others of 

Quality Education as a Constitutional Right (Beacon Press)


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Inspired by the work of the Algebra Project Dr. Moses Son, Omo Moses founded the The YoungPeoples Project.  The project recruits, trains and deploys high school- and college-age Math Literacy Workers.  The objective is to increase mathematical understanding among young people.  Partnering with the Algebra Project in several states it provides out-of-school educational experiences for students. 

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Music heard on this program was recorded during the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  It was released by Folkways Records in 1965 and recently was heard in the motion picture Selma.

It is available from Folkways as Freedom Songs: Selma Alabama at folkways.si.edu



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