Those who work in academia, mathematics or civil rights would say the obituaries still failed to capture the depth of his impact. In honour of Black History Month, The Fields Institute wishes to pay tribute to this giant in the field of social justice and education – particularly mathematics education. 

Who was Bob Moses?

Civil rights leader. Peerless educator. Mathematics equalizer. Grassroots community changemaker. 

Rundowns of Dr. Moses’ book-length achievements have been well documented since his emergence as a civil rights leader in 1960s. In an incendiary American South, the charismatic community organizer developed networks of activists to register black voters and end racial disenfranchisement. His 2001 book, Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project, documents the violence he faced in opposition to his work, from beatings and prison sentences to official intimidation. Despite every conceivable obstacle thrown in his path, he persisted in creating legacy frameworks for combatting racial injustice.

In educational circles, Dr. Moses is best known for the Algebra Project, a non-profit he started in 1982 with his MacArthur Genius Grant. Dr. Moses recognized the clear connection between access to quality education and civil rights. In the next chapter of his career, he married the two by using mathematics literacy as a gateway to a better life in our industry-driven society

He believed underserved students with the lowest math test scores could eventually handle college-level math if they had access to the right supports. He also believed mathematics was critical for Black students to create their own economic opportunities through math literacy. 

What is the Algebra Project?

The Algebra Project takes a five-step curricular approach to teaching. The idea is to build bridges between experience, language and mathematical symbols in a way that allows students from differentiated backgrounds to access mathematics through recognizable, relevant connections.

In a memorial published last December, Interim Executive Director Ben Moynihan recalls how in the early 1990s, he and Dr. Moses developed an “experiential African Drums and Ratios Curriculum” for students in Grades 4 and 5. They used African diasporic drum-making and drumming “for students to have another ‘way in’ to learning key math concepts of factors, multiples and ratios.” This is just one of many such innovative examples.

When students grasp the centrality of mathematics to everything around them, and can connect it to the things they enjoy, the gates to math literacy unlock. That’s why Shared Experience is the first step in the Algebra Project process, offering students a game or activity that encourages conceptual discovery through problem solving instead of having a teacher “tell” them what the concept means.

Students then draw a picture or model of that shared experience, describe the experience using their own language, share their work with others and facilitate a group discussion. Only then does the teacher enter the process to “bring out big mathematical ideas” and support the transition into understanding more formal mathematical language.

Finally, the students must represent the mathematical concept through symbolic language, which can be traditional symbols or ones of their own invention. Once they have conveyed the mathematical understanding to others, the process is complete.

This process, so simple, yet brilliant, has inspired countless programs that incorporate its principles in conveying mathematical ideas to young people. Our own Ask a Mathematician program uses similar pedagogical tools to create relevant connections for Canadian students between mathematics and the physical world around them. 

“We are trying to build on messages like [The Algebra Project] by providing opportunities for students who don’t have ready access to mathematics programs – like remote Northern communities and classes that wouldn’t readily travel to a math institute – a chance to interact with mathematicians from all backgrounds. AAM allows them to see the subject, and themselves, in a whole new light,” says program creator, Dr. Pamela Brittain.

A footstep planted in Canada

Though most of his work was centered in the States, here in Canada we have our own piece of Bob Moses history. Like many of his contemporaries, Dr. Moses moved here in 1966 to avoid the Vietnam draft. Though his time in Montreal was brief, he remains a respected figure in the community, a giant whose efforts to promote accessibility have served as a benchmark for our own equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) efforts.

Across the span of math educators, from teachers to ministers, Dr. Moses’ legacy continues to inform some of the country’s pedagogical choices. Dr. Robyn Ruttenberg-Rozen, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, at Ontario Tech University, cites Dr. Moses as a strong influence in her own belief system.

“Mathematics acts as a gatekeeper in schools when it should act as a gateway. A primary goal for us, as mathematics teacher educators, is for teacher candidates to experience mathematics as a civil/human right in order to understand mathematics as a civil right,” she says. 

“The first step then is to help our future teachers become aware of their own right to mathematical literacy. The next step is to leverage that awareness to develop a belief in the mathematical potential of each and every one of their future students. This can only come through experience.”

There’s no such thing as a “math person”

Dr. Ruttenberg-Rozen’s views would have been a welcome alternative to much of Vanessa Vakharia’s high school math experience. Ms. Vakharia, who owns the boutique math tutoring studio, The Math Guru, has built a thriving career off her transformation from failing math student to enthusiastic math educator. It only took one Grade 12 teacher to undo years of the toxic belief that there was even such thing as a “math person.” The dismantling of that mind prison had such a profound effect, she’s since devoted her life to recreating that a-ha moment for others.

“Bob Moses always tapped into how he could make math meaningful to his students, and that is something I have carried with me since day one of my teaching career,” Ms. Vakharia says. “I believe that the key to engaging everyone in math is by pointing out inequities, making everyone feel invited to the conversation, and providing diverse opportunities for everyone to succeed.” 

One of the most important factors in any EDI effort is representation. When students are presented with role models who look like them, or at the very least, don’t conform to stereotypes, they are better able to visualize themselves in places they may have believed were off-limits. Ms. Vakharia is sensitive to the role of representation in her own approach.

“I make an effort to bring my whole self to my work so that students can see different versions of what it means to be a person who likes math. I make sure to be transparent about the fact that I'm in a touring rock band, that I love blue eyeliner, and that I failed math twice!” she says.

Our own checkered past

The past few years have seen an overdue reckoning in Canada of our own history with racism. Beyond the horror of residential schools, there is now an effort to correct the erasure of Indigenous learning in our education system. While there remains a long road ahead, education leaders are looking to Bob Moses’ template for guidance on how to rebuild.

“As Ontario moved forward with de-streaming starting in Grade 9 mathematics last Fall, the legacy of Bob Moses lives on. This transformation in our education system requires leadership and determination at the highest level, not lip service,” says Jhonel Morvan, superintendent of education for the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO). 

“It is not just a question of government or teacher unions. It takes a vision like the one that fueled the founder of the Algebra Project in order to deliver relevant pedagogical supports, adaptive teacher training, and targeted professional development support and community involvement activities for schools and faculties of education to improve school mathematics and math education.”

Like any effort to create change, real social transformation takes time. Before he died last summer, Bob Moses understood it would be many years before the seeds he planted would bear fruit. But that never stopped him from putting everything he had into setting the stage for the future, a place where universal fluency in math and science could play a critical role in leveling the playing field. The way we honour him is to drive that work forward at the Fields Institute and in the broader mathematics community.