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Robert P. Moses: Math Literacy

Robert Moses was born in the Harlem section of New York City on January 23, 1935. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and in 1957 a master’s in philosophy from Harvard University.

In 1960, Moses was a teacher at a middle school in New York City when he visited Hampton Institute, a historically Black college in Virginia. At that time, some Hampton students were participating in a sit-in campaign against racial discrimination in Newport News, Virginia. The visit motivated Moses to get involved in the civil rights movement.

He became a field secretary for the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee and director of SNCC’s Mississippi Project. He was also the driving force behind the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party. Eventually Moses left Mississippi and went to the East African country of Tanzania where he taught math from 1969-1976.

In 1982, Moses received a prestigious Mac Arthur Fellowship which he used to lay the foundation for the Algebra Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Algebra Project is a national program designed to promote and reinforce mathematical literacy in order to enhance college preparation and participation for low-income, Black, and Latino/a students. A central part of the Algebra Project’s curriculum is a method for teaching mathematics for which Moses received a patent in 1996. The methodology is called Games for Enhancing Mathematical Understanding.

Robert Moses is currently teaching school in Mississippi.

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