Bob was born in Harlem, New York, in 1935, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952 and received his bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College in 1956. A year later, Bob earned his master’s degree in philosophy at Harvard. By 1958, he began teaching at the Horace Mann School in The Bronx, one of the most impoverished communities of color in the nation at the time. Into the 1960s, Bob became one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, forming part of the grassroots and community-based leadership.
Sojourner Truth Radio: July 27, 2021 – Bob Moses Tribute
On Sunday, July 25, 2021, the world lost one of the greatest icons of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement: Bob Moses. Bob passed away at the age of 86 at his home in Hollywood, Florida. Today, we pay homage to his life and legacy as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the Algebra Project.
In 1960, Bob became field secretary for SNCC and later director of the SNCC’s Mississippi Project in 1961. He traveled to Pike County and Amite County to try to register Black voters with other local community leaders. Bob experienced constant violence and intimidation, and was beaten and arrested in Amite County. He was one of the first Black people in the area to legally challenge white violence, and filed assault charges against his attacker.
Today’s guests are David Dennis, Martha Prescod Noonan and Dr. Gerald Horne.
David J. Dennis is a civil rights activist active in the movement since the 1960s. He grew up in the segregated area of Omega, Louisiana, and worked as co-director of the Council of Federated Organizations as director of Mississippi’s Congress of Racial Equality, and as one of the organizers of the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. David worked closely with both Bob Moses and Medgar Evers, as well as members of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Martha Prescod Noonan is a community organizer, activist, homemaker, and teacher of history, including the Civil Rights Movement. Martha grew up in Rhode Island and attended the University of Michigan. She was a fundraiser and a field secretary for SNCC and worked with Bob Moses. She is one of the editors of a book about SNCC womens experiences in the movement, titled “Hands On The Freedom Plow.”
Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History & African-American Studies at the University of Houston, has written more than 30 books. His most recently published book is “The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering and the Political Economy of Boxing.” He is also the author of “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century.”