Bob Moses

Robert Parris Moses (January 23, 1935 – July 25, 2021) was an American educator and civil rights activist. He was a prominent leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where he played a crucial role in organizing voter registration drives and advocating for civil rights in Mississippi during the 1960s. Moses was instrumental in the founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and was a key organizer of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project. After facing government pressure and opposition, he spent time in Tanzania teaching before returning to the U.S. In 1982, he received a MacArthur Fellowship, which he used to establish the Algebra Project, a math literacy program aimed at improving educational opportunities for minority students through community organizing. Moses viewed math literacy as a continuation of the civil rights struggle.