Special Gathering Honors the Legacy of Bob Moses

For the fourth consecutive year, Special Gathering is excited to collaborate with Dr. Janet Moses to host the Bob Moses Legacy Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This year's hybrid conference, themed "Anchored in History, Focused on the Future: Education and Mass Incarceration," will be held on October 11-12. 

Born and raised in Harlem, Bob Moses was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC (pronounced SNICK) led the perilous battle to register thousands of Black Mississippians to vote during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. This work, and the founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, made the passage of our nation’s historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 possible. 

Upon returning to the United States after a sojourn in Tanzania, Bob applied his graduate Harvard studies in mathematical logic to the development of The Algebra Project. Bob understood that Algebra was the gateway to mathematical literacy essential for meaningful participation in our hi- tech society and that democracy rested on ensuring that all children received a quality education, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. 

Bob was a MacArthur Fellow and the recipient of 17 honorary doctorate degrees. The Algebra Project was awarded numerous grants from the National Science Foundation. 

To honor her late husband, Dr. Moses established the Bob Moses Legacy Conference in 2022. This conference pays tribute to her husband's legacy and serves as a reminder of the never-ending struggle for a more just world. “I think it's really important that the pearls of wisdom that we've learned, the advancements that we made as a result of our efforts in the 60s, that we continue to strive to tell our story right and to open up a platform where these ideas about our freedom and liberation can really take hold,” said Moses. 

The Bob Moses Conferences have reached several thousand participants.

The partnership with Special Gathering has been an excellent match. Dr. Moses was introduced to Special Gathering CEO, Dani Johnson, by a mutual friend just six weeks before the first conference. Dani and her crew worked magic to produce a very successful event. The Bob Moses Conferences have reached several thousand participants. Dani’s understanding of the Conferences’ significance, her technical expertise, her ability to support and guide a team effort, and her very, very bright and inquiring mind have made the planning really special,” said Moses. 

This year's conference aims to change the narrative surrounding education, mass incarceration, and education. Alarmingly, in 2019, 92% of Black 12th graders were not proficient in math. Additionally, Black and Latino individuals make up 66% of the nation's prison population. 

“It's not that we're just the client. Dani is really invested in this work, and it shows.“

Moses credits the success of the conferences to the synergy she and Johnson have developed over the years. “It's not that we're just the client. Dani is really invested in this work, and it shows.“ The conferences have been innovative and very classy and that has a lot to do with what a Special Gathering brings,” said Moses.