SNCC 60th

We also want to offer comfort at the loss felt by Bob’s SNCC family, who for the past 60 years have been engaged and worked with each other in the on-going struggle for human and civil rights. The SNCC Legacy Project of which Bob was vice chairman especially feels this loss.

We honor his vision, tenacity, and fearlessness. His deep belief in people who find themselves in the socio/economic bottom made a fundamental difference for millions of his fellow Americans.

He was key to SNCC launching its voter registration campaign in Mississippi. That work in turn led to Freedom Schools, the 1964 Freedom Summer Project, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Poor Peoples Campaign, and the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union.

And these not only began to alter the face of Mississippi, but also challenged the country to be true to the best in itself. At the heart of these efforts was SNCC’s idea that people—ordinary people long denied this power—could take control of their lives.

These were the people that Bob brought to the table to fight for a seat at it: maids, sharecroppers, day workers, barbers, beauticians, teachers, preachers and many others from all walks of life.

The Algebra Project he founded in 1982 is a direct outgrowth of this early work in Mississippi. The work of the Project is aimed at preparing those still kept on the bottom rungs of our society for success in the information economy of the 21st century.