Part II deals with teaching math to students of color, questioning and looking at classroom practices, community perspectives, teachers’ perceptions and student voices. In this section, compelling historical references and the layers of many passionate voices for the right to vote create the foundation for the spirit of the Algebra Project. Part I connects to the spirit of Ella Baker, one of the founding organizers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a grassroots organizer and community leader. Recounting his personal experiences, Moses separates the book into two parts.
Moses articulates how organizing a community and empowering students to succeed in mathematics is a revolutionary and necessary act. They say you don’t want to learn.” Moses outlines how the Algebra Project is a political movement for math literacy within communities that have not yet started to call for change. Society is already prepared to write you off the way sharecroppers in the Delta have been written off. He takes on perceptions of the abilities of students of color, saying to his students, “You may not want to go to college but if you don’t go it should not be because you haven’t prepared yourself to go. Moses draws this connection by examining mathematics, curriculum, teaching practices, community organizing, student achievement and equity. The history of racial politics in the United States mirrors itself in education. By putting the historical struggles of blacks to gain voting rights in Mississippi during the 1960s side by side with the present struggles of minority students to get the mathematics education that they need for economic access, Moses shows us the connection between social justice and math literacy. Moses’ Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights opens a portal in history, connecting Moses’ experiences in the 1960s southern civil rights movement to the current-day Algebra Project, which he established to teach math to middle school students.
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