Tag: Black History

Happy Women’s History Month!

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Every March, Women’s History Month invites us to pause and look at the people that built our communities. Some of the stories are well‑known—names etched into monuments or printed in textbooks. But many others, often those of women, live quietly in the margins: teachers who shaped generations, activists who pushed for justice, artists who reimagined the world, caregivers who held neighborhoods together. These women influenced Cambridge in a myriad of ways, yet for centuries their contributions were scattered, forgotten, or never recorded at all.

The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project (CWHP) was created to change that. It is, at its heart, a restoration project—not of buildings, but of remembrance. This effort seeks to bring women’s contributions into focus, ensuring that they are included in city’s rich history.

Dr. Ruth Marguerite Easterling
Pathologist, first African American woman admitted to Tufts Medical School

The project began in 1996, sparked by a community effort to honor writer May Sarton with a memorial at the Cambridge Public Library. What started as a single tribute quickly revealed a larger truth: Cambridge history was rich with women whose stories deserved recognition. That realization grew into a city‑supported initiative to document women’s lives from Cambridge’s founding in 1630 to the present day.

Today, the CWHP is a living, evolving archive. Volunteers, historians, and community members work together to research and write biographies of Cambridge women and women’s organizations. Some entries are detailed portraits; others are fragments waiting to be expanded. To date, more than 900 women and groups have been nominated, and the project continues to grow as new stories surface.

Flyer for Bread and Roses Restaurant
Gourmet vegetarian restaurant and center for feminism (1974-1978)

The work is meticulous and often challenging. Many women left few written records, and their contributions were not always preserved in traditional archives. The CWHP addresses this by gathering information from published sources, obituaries, local history collections, and community submissions. Each entry is carefully edited, fact‑checked, and organized so that future researchers, students, and residents can explore the city’s history through a more inclusive lens.

But the project is more than a database. It is also a catalyst for public engagement. Over the years, the CWHP has hosted International Women’s Day celebrations, walking tours, lectures, and other programs that bring women’s history into the public square. It invites the community to participate—by nominating women, sharing photographs, offering corrections, or volunteering to help with research.

Helen Wendler Markham (born Helen Wendler Deane)
Biologist, histochemist, humanitarian

The CWHP was created as a joint project of the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women and the Cambridge Historical Commission and relies on volunteers from the community to keep growing. The mission is both simple and profound: to celebrate the women of Cambridge, to preserve their stories, and to ensure that future generations can see themselves reflected in the city’s past.

During Women’s History Month, the project feels especially resonant. It reminds us that history is not fixed; it is something we build, revise, and enrich. We invite you to follow us on social media as we highlight a selection of these individuals and organizations where the stories of women—long overlooked—are finally being given the visibility and honor they deserve.

Visit the Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project database:
https://cwhp.cambridgema.gov/

Follow the Cambridge Historical Commission on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cambridgehistoricalcommission/
WordPress blog: https://cambridgehistoricalcommission.blog/

Black History Month Feature: Roosevelt Weaver

Posted on by Meta Partenheimer

Today we’re highlighting Roosevelt Weaver, an educator, activist, and voice for the people.

Roosevelt R. Weaver was born in Macon, Georgia in 1936. He obtained his degree in sociology after receiving a scholarship from Yankton College in South Dakota. During his time in undergrad, Weaver was a star athlete, earning accolades in track, football, and boxing. Following graduation, Weaver taught in the Atlanta public school system and served in the Peace Corps as well as the US Marines active reserves. While a Peace Corps volunteer from 1962-65, Weaver coached the Senegalese Olympic track team.

The Cambridge Chronicle, 18 May 1967

Weaver became the first Program Director at the Cambridge Community Center in 1965. Weaver was surprised to encounter in Cambridge the same racism he faced in southern states when he was refused multiple apartment rentals based on his ethnic background. Weaver resigned his position at the community center in 1967 to to become the Group Leader for Operation Crossroads Africa Inc.’s work in Cameroon. The project was designed to engage American and African college students through summer work projects. Weaver returned to Cambridge in 1968. He had earned his master’s degree in Urban Education from Simmons College and began pursuing his Doctor of Education degree at Harvard in 1969 while also teaching courses at Emerson College and Simmons.

Roosevelt Weaver photographed by Forman on April 8, 1970. Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission.

In 1970, following unrest and a sit-in at the Cambridge High and Latin School, administrators hired Weaver part time to head up a course titled “Black Experience.” What followed were several months of meetings, student discussions, and seminars focused on addressing racial tensions and demands of Black students who faced racism and objected to the white-centric coursework at CHL and Rindge Tech. That year, Weaver was chosen as an Outstanding Young Man of America and received an Alumnus of the Year award from his alma mater. Weaver served on numerous committees and boards, including the Cambridge Police Relations Council, tackling issues faced by the Black community in Cambridge. In 1971, he became the first black principal of Bernice A. Ray Elementary School in Hanover, NH. Weaver later moved to New Jersey to teach in the East Orange school system.

Wikipedia Highlights Black Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The Cambridge Black History Project in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Library invites you to come out and try your hand at editing and creating Wikipedia pages related to Cambridge Black History!

When: Wednesday, February 25th from 5:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Central Square Branch of the Cambridge Public Library (45 Pearl Street).

This event is free but registration is required. Please click HERE for more information and to register for the event. Once at the registration page click the blue “Begin Registration” button.

Barbara Ward Armstrong, a Cantabrigian and innovative artist whose life-sized African-inspired multi-textured fabric sculptures, called “soft sculptures,” redefined 20th century artforms.

All levels of experience are welcome! Join in on the fun and excitement of looking up information on Black Cantabrigians and beyond as we move to create Wikipedia pages that will highlight some local individuals. We will be adding to information on existing pages, creating new pages, finding reliable sources for others to use, and copyediting and formatting pages. The Central Square Branch offers resources from its Archives and Special Collections as well as its Black Voices Collections.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday, February 25 from 5:30pm – 8:30pm. 

Access information:

  • The library’s accessible entrance is available from Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza
  • Public transit: the library located 1 block from the Central MBTA Red Line station
  • Street parking (metered) is available near the library.
  • Garage parking (paid) is available in the Green Street Garage.

African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The African-American community in Cambridge has a long, rich, and fruitful history. The roots of this community, much like the rest of the United States, are in the institution of slavery, which brought Black people from Africa and the Caribbean to New England soon after the Puritans settled. The small Black population of Cambridge became free in 1783, when the Supreme Court of Massachusetts decided to end legal chattel slavery in the state. This measure, combined with the general movement of southern Black people to the North in the 19th century and the attractive integrated school system, brought many Black families to Cambridge, expanding the African-American community. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century, Cambridge saw a great variety of prominent African-American activists, officials, and leaders. Coming from all over America, these figures have contributed to the growth and empowerment of the Black communities in Cambridge, the United States, and even the entire world.

Cover of African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000)

We at the Cambridge Historical Commission invite you to explore the inspiring and unique stories of twenty of Cambridge’s most important Black leaders through our informational booklet, African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), an accompanying text to our African American History Trail.

Selections from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), featuring entries of Pauline Hopkins and Harriet A. Jacobs.

Here, you’ll meet figures like Maria Louise Baldwin, headmaster of the Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge and the first African American to hold such a position in the North. You’ll also learn about William Wells Brown, an escaped slave who became the first African American novelist, and Alberta V. Scott, the first African American graduate of Radcliffe College. With the aid of this guide, you can hear about and visit the locations where these abolitionists, authors, educators, and office holders lived, worked, and expanded their lives in Cambridge from 1840 to 1940. The guide contains the complete text of each historical marker, a map with key, and a brief history of African Americans in Cambridge.

Select pages from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000) showing locations associated with featured historical figures.

To learn more, and obtain a copy of this publication for just $2, click here, email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov, or visit our office at 831 Mass Ave in Central Square.

Illustrated Talk: Black Patriots of Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Join us tomorrow for an illustrated talk with Leslie Brunetta and Paula Paris and learn more about Cambridge’s Black Patriots and the Black Cantabrigians that lived and worked here in the years following the Revolutionary War. 

Wed. June 25, 2025, 6:00PM
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational
11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
in the Margaret Jewett Hall – Note that this venue does not have air conditioning. Please plan accordingly.

Leslie Brunetta is a writer who has been a member of the Cambridge Black History Project since 2020. She stumbled into researching Cambridge Black history after discovering that Francis Prince Clary, activist and assistant to the first Harvard chemistry professor, had lived on her street in Mid Cambridge. She has published a number of profiles of historical Black figures in Cambridge Day and the Mount Auburn Cemetery website. She just published an essay at Commonplace about a well-known Black author’s formidable widow employed by William Dean Howells as a housekeeper on Sacramento St.

Paula Paris is a lifelong resident of West Cambridge. She is a member of First Church in Cambridge and is active in many community organizations including the Cambridge Historical Commission and the Cambridge Black History Project. She is Deputy Director of the educational non-profit JFY NetWorks, which prepares underserved youth for college and the workplace. Learn more about First Church’s racial justice work online here.

This event is being sponsored by the Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Black History Project and First Church in Cambridge and with the support of a grant to the City from the Massachusetts Office of Tourism. For more information, see MA250 website and Cambridge250. 

Event: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters Annual Juneteenth Gathering

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Gather for Juneteenth to honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street 250 years ago, their descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond.

This free, all-ages event is marking its fourth year in 2025! Denise Washington (#Pop-Up Poetry Series), a descendant of Darby Vassall, has curated the Juneteenth Gathering at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS each year. Join us for the Juneteenth Gathering, A Denise Plays Hard Event, featuring speeches, poetry, music, historical displays, family activities, and refreshments. All are welcome!

Event Details

🎤12:30-1:00 PM DJ Steve Gousby
👋1:00-1:15 PM Welcome
🎶1:15-2:30 PM Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event, including:

  • Drum procession – Chibuzo Dunun
  • Remarks and Libation – Edmund Barry Gaither (Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists)
  • The Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – led by Judge Milton Wright
  • Denise Washington & The #Pop-Up Poetry Ensemble: Akili Jamal Haynes, Lenny Bradford, Stephen O’Neal

2:30-3:30 PM

🎛️DJ Steve Gousby
👥Interactive history and family activities
🥤Catered refreshments
📋Partner/resource tables by the Enslaved Legacy History Coalition, Christ Church Cambridge, First Church in Cambridge, and History Cambridge
StoryWalk: Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

Meet Xonnabel and Emory Clark

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

In 1953, Xonnabel and Emory Clark began their married life with a 1,500-mile journey from New Orleans to Cambridge. Xonnabel, a graduate of Dillard University, had been awarded a scholarship to Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Emory, who had served in WWII, had a degree in pharmacy from Xavier University.

Xonnabel Green Clark, third from left. Still from “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A

In the Boston area, Emory found that drugstore owners were unwilling to hire an African American pharmacist. In Cambridge, he went door to door to every drugstore on Mass Ave in search of work. Many praised his manner and experience but were unwilling to risk hiring a black man for fear of losing customers. Eventually, he was offered a position as a clerk at Cole’s Drug Store in Central Square. Emory was soon promoted to pharmacist. His wife Xonnabel believes the offer of a clerk position was a way for the store owner to gauge the response of customers who were more accustomed to being served by white employees. This decision paid off, as many Black Cantabrigians took notice of Emory’s expertise and began to fill their prescriptions at Cole’s. Emory also started a shaved ice pushcart business, with a goal of raising capital to one day own and operate his own pharmacy. He eventually upgraded the pushcart to an ice cream truck and made daily trips to Columbia Point to serve Boston regulars.

Xonnabel Clark, Ed.M.’54 (far right) with classmates Barbara Cage, Ed.M.’54 and Rosetta Sanders, Ed.M.’55 as they appeared in “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A.

After receiving her master’s degree, Xonnabel became a teacher and counselor at the Hecht House in Boston and in the Newton Public Schools. She was also a devoted member of the Grace Vision United Methodist Church on Magazine St. During these years, the Clarks raised a family of five children.

Image from Xonnabel Clark Collection. Cambridge Historical Commission. https://public.archivesspace.dlconsulting.com/repositories/3/resources/125.

In 1969, Emory bought the site of a defunct filling station at 407 Concord Ave. For two years, he worked to appeal zoning restrictions and gain financing and neighborhood support for a community pharmacy. “Emory’s Pharmacy” opened in 1971 – the first African American-owned and operated pharmacy in Cambridge. Emory’s Pharmacy operated until 1990, and today, “Emory J. Clark Square” at the corner of Concord Avenue and Fern Street honors his achievement.

Emory Clark at his pharmacy at 407 Concord Ave. Image from Xonnabel Clark Collection. Cambridge Historical Commission.
https://public.archivesspace.dlconsulting.com/repositories/3/resources/125.

We know Emory Clark’s story through the letters, photos, and documents that Xonnabel collected over the years. As well as being a distinguished educator, she is an historian – of Emory’s story and of the Grace United Methodist Church. In 2017, she embarked on a new project when a friend asked for book suggestions on African American history. In response, Xonnabel created “Roots and Wings: Notes Related to African American History and Culture,” a compilation of excerpts, articles, lyrics, photos, reading recommendations, and personal reflections. It was “a most rewarding extension of an unending learning process,” she wrote.

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer and former intern, Susan Keane.

Black History Month 2023: Reverend Henry Buckner

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Perhaps not as well-known as other prominent members of the Black community in Cambridge in the 19th century is Reverend Henry Buckner (c.1832 Virginia – 1893 Worcester, Mass). Reverend Buckner founded what became the first African American church in Cambridge. It all began in 1870 when he and a group of his like-minded friends met for prayer in his living room at #32 Hastings Street. In 1873, the group was associated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and was subsequently known as the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. Note that the church website lists it as St. Paul Church—singular—though it is inevitably referred to as plural: St. Paul’s.

Buckner was born in Virginia around 1830. Given the date and location of his birth, it is likely that Buckner was born into enslavement. And, given his name, it is possible that the Buckner family of Virginia were Henry’s enslavers. Henry’s wife, Georgiana Watters, was also born in Virginia around 1830. Her death was noted in the Cambridge Press on February 23, 1889.  Five months later, Buckner married Mary P. Mingo (b. 1844 in Virginia). This was both Henry and Mary’s second marriage. Their marriage document lists Henry’s mother as Ann Killis; Mary’ Mingo’s parents were Isaac and Sarah Watters.

Henry Buckner first appears in Cambridge in the 1870 Census, listing him as a blacksmith living in a predominately Black neighborhood (street unnamed).  The value of his real estate was an impressive $2000—valued around $40,000 in today’s currency. Henry was not listed in the 1869 Cambridge Directory. The 1872 Directory lists him living at #32R Hastings Street, which ran between Moore St and Portland St in East Cambridge. His occupation was listed as “laborer” until 1892 when he was listed as “Rev. Henry Buckner.”

City Directory 1879

After 1893, Cambridge changed its street numbering system, and the Buckner’s home was henceforth listed as #70. You can see #70 on the map below just a few doors down from the St. Paul A.M.E. at the corner of Hastings and Portland Streets. Hastings St was closed by 1960, and today the Draper Labs garage stands on church’s former site.

Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts by G.W. Bromley and Co., 1894 (detail)

In 1900, the current pastor of the Church, Rev. W. H. Burrell, wrote an article for the Cambridge Chronicle about the founding of St. Paul A.M.E.

Cambridge Chronicle February 3, 1900

The article continues: 

“The little society rapidly grew to such proportions that it was soon found necessary to secure a more commodious place of worship, and after selecting a suitable location, leased of Mr. James C. Davis (who afterward became a staunch friend of this struggling society) the lot of land corner Portland and Hastings streets, on which the church building now stands, and erected the St. Paul’s A. M. E. church, which for twenty-four years, has stood battling for the right, and which for many years was the only  place of worship of the colored people in the city of Cambridge…”

Exterior view of Wood Memorial Church, later St Paul A.M.E., at 50 Portland St (later 98 Portland), no date (CHC collections)

In 1899, Pastor Burrell had begun a remodeling drive. The article concluded with a touching appeal for funds:

In 1882, Buckner represented his church at the first meeting of “colored temperance organizations of Cambridge and Boston” and was named temporary chairman of the group:

Boston Globe August 23, 1882

Of course, Buckner regularly attended the New England Conference of the A.M.E. Church at Newport, Worcester and other locations. In 1890, at the Conference in Worcester, Mass, Buckner’s transfer to Westfield, Mass was announced. The Pittsfield papers noted that Buckner had served there in 1884 and 1885, noting that in January of 1885 he was called back to Cambridge “on account of his wife’s sickness.”

The June 17, 1890 edition of the Boston Globe noted that Buckner was again transferred to Westfield. Several days earlier, on June 14, he had been referred to as a “supernumerary” in the Worcester Daily Spy. The following year, in June of 1891, he opened the devotional exercises at the morning session of the A.M.E. conference in Newport, Rhode Island (Boston Globe, June 11, 1891).

View of Wood Memorial Church at 31 Austin St (now Bishop Allen Drive) as published in Cambridge Illustrated, ca. 1889-1893

It is difficult to locate any information about Rev. Buckner after 1891. A clue as to his death may be seen in the 1893 City Directory under his last name. The only Buckner listed is “Buckner Henry Mrs house 70 Hastings.” Women were generally listed this way only after their husbands were deceased. Meanwhile, the church Henry had founded moved to the corner of Columbia Ave and Austin St in Cambridge after the congregation outgrew their former building at the corner of Portland and Hastings Street.  In 1920, the church purchased the Wood Memorial Church on Austin Street (now Bishop Allen Drive).

Postcard showing Wood Memorial Church c. 1910. (CHC collections)

In 1974, Austin Street was renamed Bishop Allen Drive, after the founder of the A.M.E. Church in America. A little over two centuries earlier, in 1784, Richard Allen had founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.

Richard Allen: Image Encyclopedia Britannica

Also in 1974, St. Paul A.M.E. opened the Henry Buckner School at 85 Bishop Allen Drive with the mission to provide care for toddlers, pre-school learning, and kindergarten. So, though we don’t know exactly when the Rev. Henry Buckner passed on, his memory lives on forever in this school.

The St Paul A.M.E. Church at 37 Bishop Allen Drive as photographed by Christopher Hail ca. 1985.

Today’s post was written by Kathleen M. Fox

SOURCES

Cambridge Public Library Newspapers and City Directories

U.S. Census

Genealogy Bank

Newspapers.com

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Allen

https://st-paul-ame.org/st-paul-history.html

Juneteenth in Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

This weekend organizations across Cambridge are hosting celebrations and commemorations for Juneteenth. 2022 marks only the second year that Juneteenth has been recognized as a Federal holiday, but what is Juneteenth and why does it matter? In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order declaring all enslaved people held in confederate states free. However, it wasn’t until June 19th of 1865 that federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce and enforce their release. The day is now celebrated as the end of slavery in the United States, though there is still much left to be done. It’s a day to uplift African American voices, celebrate African American joy, and honor those who were robbed of their freedom and made to endure the inhumanity of American slavery. If you haven’t already made your own celebratory and/or commemorative plans, consider joining any of these many events happening right in our own neighborhood.

6/16 @ 12:15-1:30 pm Come to Joan Lorentz Park, 449 Broadway to catch a reggae performance by the Mystic Jammers

6/18 12-9:00 pm Catch a full day of activities from the Margaret Fuller House at 155 Harvard St. including yoga, a presentation on Joy in a historic Black Church in Cambridgeport by the Black History in Action for Cambridgeport (BHAC), and a Black Business Fair. They’ll be ending the evening with biking and skating at Hoyt Field.

6/18 @ 12-2:00 pm The Central Square Branch of the Cambridge Public Library will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration for all ages. There will be storytelling, music from the Albino Mbie Band, cupcakes, sidewalk chalk, and crafts. Visit the CPL events page for more details.

6/19 @ 3 pm The Cambridge Black History Project will be meeting at the Old Burying Ground at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave & Garden Street to honor and commemorate two African Americans buried there. Guests are welcomed to stand outside the gate to witness the ceremony.

6/19 @ 7:00 pm The Longfellow House and Museum of African American History have partnered to host a poetry reading and film screening of Jubilee Juneteenth and the Thirteenth. Learn more and register here.

6/20 @ 9-12:00 pm The Cambridge Families of Color Coalition and Starlight are hosting a parade at City Hall.

See the city’s Eventbrite page for more details and events!

Remembering Bob Moses (1935-2021)

Posted on by ehillchc

Today, we continue to mourn the loss of the great Bob Moses, but celebrate his life and legacy in Cambridge, Mississippi, and nation-wide. Robert Parris Moses was born in 1935 in New York City, where his parents Gregory and Louise, a janitor and homemaker, respectively, prioritized education in the home. Raised in a public housing complex, Moses attended New York City’s public but highly selective Stuyvesant High School, before graduating from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., eventually earning a master’s degree in Philosophy in 1957 from Harvard. He continued his education at Harvard, but the death of his mother and subsequent illness of his father reportedly forced Moses to abandon his doctoral studies, and return to New York, where he became a math teacher in the Bronx.

Bob Moses in Mississippi, 1963. Photo by Harvey Richards

When news spread about the civil rights movement, specifically the denial of African Americans the right to register and vote in the South, he was compelled to leave teaching in 1960 and travel to Mississippi. The young civil rights advocate tried to empower Black Mississippians—often sharecroppers—to vote. Moses faced violence from the KKK, local police forces, and other white segregationists for his successful attempts. At one point during a voter-registration drive, a sheriff’s cousin bashed Mr. Moses’ head with a knife handle. Bleeding, he kept going, staggering up the steps of a courthouse to register a couple of Black farmers. Only then did he seek medical attention. There was no Black doctor in the county, Mr. Moses later wrote, so he had to be driven to another town, where nine stitches were sewn into his head.  When he tried to file charges against a white assailant, an all-white jury acquitted the man, but luckily a judge provided protection to Moses to the county line so he could leave. Undeterred, Bob continued his fight.

Bob Moses in NY, 1964. Roberty Elfstrom photographer, via Getty.

Moses was known as one of the best grass-roots organizers in the civil rights movement in the South, and was often compared to Martin Luther King Jr. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch noted this about Bob, “He is really the father of grass-roots organizing—not the Moses summoning his people on the mountaintop as King did but, ironically, the anti-Moses, going door to door, listening to people, letting them lead.” Moses developed the idea for the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, which recruited northern college students to join Mississippi blacks conducting a grassroots voter registration drive. When local blacks were excluded from participating in the all-white “regular” Democratic Party, Moses suggested creating the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which sought recognition as the representative delegation from Mississippi at the Democratic National Convention of 1964. He worked closely with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on voter registration drives.

Bob Moses at SNCC conference in Waveland, MS, November 1964, Photo by Danny Lyon.

As his notoriety grew, Moses would withdraw from the primary ranks of the movement, fearing that his presence would overshadow its needs. He turned his attentions to protesting the Vietnam War, noting in a 1965 speech that “the prosecutors of the war” were “the same people who refused to protect civil rights in the South.” He spoke out against the war and worked with young leaders to march and protest in cities all along the east coast. Suspiciously, he was drafted soon thereafter, despite being five years over the age limit. Denied conscientious-objector status, Moses and his wife Janet moved first to Canada and then to Tanzania, where he taught school. There, the couple began a family; three of their four children were born on the continent.

Bob Moses (right) protesting the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, Aug. 6, 1965. Moses and fellow protestors were splashed with red paint by counter-protesters.

In 1977, Moses returned to the States to resume his Ph.D. studies in the philosophy of mathematics at Harvard. Those studies would serve both him and the community well. In 1982, the then 47-year-old discovered his daughter Maisha’s eighth grade class didn’t offer algebra. At the invitation of her teacher, Moses began to teach advanced work to Maisha and several classmates; a development that would soon after evolve into The Algebra Project, a program which relies on igniting enthusiasm among students by having them link common daily tasks to basic mathematical procedures. “Math literacy is a civil right,” said Moses. “Just as Black people in Mississippi saw the vote as a tool to elevate them into the first class politically, math is the tool to elevate the young into the first class economically.”

Moses lived in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge with his family for a number of years before moving, eventually settling in Florida. The family lived at a house at the corner of School and Cherry streets. They restored the house and were given one of our first ever Cambridge Preservation Awards. Another lasting legacy in Cambridge is the Moses Youth Center on Harvard Street in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge, so named after Bob and his wife Janet. The building was renamed after the couple in 2015 by the Cambridge City Council in honor of the couple’s “tremendous contributions to the continuing civil rights movement and their unwavering dedication to the progress of all Cambridge residents.” Bob Moses died on Sunday, July 25 at the age of 86 in Hollywood, Florida. He is survived by his wife Janet, daughters Maisha and Malaika, sons Omowale and Tabasuri, and seven grandchildren.

Bob, Maisha, and Janet Moses, 2018 photo by Cambridge Community Foundation.