The 5th Annual Bob Moses Legacy Conference
Remaking America:
The Work Before Us
About the Conference
From Reflection to Strategy to Action
As the nation commemorates its 250th anniversary, the conference confronts a fundamental question: is a multiracial, caste-free America truly possible? Grounded in the enduring legacy of Bob Moses — who recognized that literacy is a prerequisite for economic and political participation — this gathering calls upon our generation to confront the truth of history as a necessary step toward transformative change.
During the conference, we also celebrate the 45th anniversary of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Fellows Program (Moses was one of its first Fellows). MacArthur boldly invests in creative solutions to urgent challenges, sparking hope for our future. We, too, like the MacArthur Foundation, will be "Defying Boundaries" as we urgently step toward transformative change in our country's most urgent and neglected social issues.
The conference in Montgomery, a three-day experience, moves participants through a deliberate arc of education, connection, and activation — from documentary screening to museum immersion to workshops and organizing commitments. In-person only. No live streaming.
Defying Boundaries: MacArthur Fellows at 45
This moment calls for creative courage. For 45 years, MacArthur Fellows have expanded the boundaries of possibility by questioning conventions, crossing disciplines, and driving collective progress.
Three Days
The Experience
Friday, October 2
Welcome & Awakening
- Welcome orientation and reception
- Heavy hors d’oeuvres
- Screening: The Alabama Solution
- Fireside chat and Q&A
Saturday, October 3
Immersion & Reflection
- Private group access: EJI Legacy Museum
- Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
- National Memorial for Peace and Justice
- Reflection and processing space
- ★ MacArthur Fellows Dinner, Conversation & Celebration
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
Sunday, October 4
Learning, Strategy & Action
- Plenary: Darity, Mullen, Dunbar, McKay — Reparations, Juvenile Injustice & American Massacres
- Keynote: Dr. Terrence Johnson — "Faith Communities Must Testify in the Age of Mass Incarceration"
- Workshop: Strategizing Divestment from the Carceral Economy
- Workshop: Raising a Moral Voice Against Mass Incarceration
- Workshop: Salvaging the Black Vote
- Workshop: Building Networks to Tell Our Story
Saturday Evening
MacArthur Fellows in Conversation
Celebrating 45 Years of the MacArthur Fellows Program
BS
Bryan Stevenson
Founder, Equal Justice Initiative
MacArthur Fellow 1995
MacArthur Fellow 1995
EB
Ellen Barry
Civil Rights Attorney
MacArthur Fellow 1998
MacArthur Fellow 1998
TBA
Speaker TBA
MacArthur Fellow
To be announced
To be announced
Sunday Program
Featured Speakers
Plenary & Keynote
WD
William Darity Jr.
Professor of Public Policy, Duke University
Sunday Plenary
Sunday Plenary
KM
Kirsten Mullen
Author & Researcher, ARTEFACTUAL
Sunday Plenary
Sunday Plenary
TJ
Dr. Terrence Johnson
Incoming Dean, Candler School of Theology, Emory
Sunday Keynote
Sunday Keynote
TM
Tasseli McKay
Asst. Professor, UNC Social Medicine
Sunday Plenary
Sunday Plenary
Workshops & Panels
Participants & Workshop Leaders
Conference contributors and session facilitators
Rahsaan HallCEO, Urban League of MA · MC & Moderator
Omo MosesAuthor, The White Peril
Jessy MolinaMolina Consulting · Conference Organizer
Roeshana Moore-EvansEquity Empowerment Consulting · Conference Organizer
Additional speakers and workshop leaders to be announced.
Getting There
Travel & Lodging
Elevation Hotel
The conference hotel in Montgomery. A room block is reserved for attendees — use code [TBD] when booking. Room block: 91 rooms available.
Getting to Montgomery
Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM) is served by American, Delta, and United. Birmingham-Shuttlesworth (BHM) is 90 minutes away with more direct flights. Shuttle transportation is being coordinated.
Join Us in Montgomery
This conference is free to attend. Your donation helps make it possible — supporting travel, programming, and access for all participants.
Our Partners
Sponsors
The Bob Moses Legacy Conference is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors and the MacArthur Foundation.
The Aaronson Fund
SOCIAL JUSTICE WORKS!
+ Become a Sponsor
Archive
Past Conferences
2025
Anchored in History, Focused on the Future: Education & Mass Incarceration
View Archive →
2024
The Vote, Caste, and the Carceral State
View Archive →
2023
The Vote, Caste, and the Carceral State
View Archive →
2022
Education, Insurgents and Insurgencies
View Archive →
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Register for the 5th Annual Bob Moses Legacy Conference
October 2–4, 2026 · Montgomery, Alabama · Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Sites · Free to attend
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2025
Anchored in History, Focused on the Future: Education and Mass Incarceration
Schedule
Day 1 — Saturday, October 11 (Education-Focused)
9:00 AM Welcome and Opening Remarks by James Eddy & Dance Performance by OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center
9:45 AM Lecturer: Steve Hahn — The roots of the civil rights movement and unseen local organizing
10:30 AM Lecturer: Donald Yacovone — Teaching White Supremacy: America's Textbook History
11:45 AM Concurrent Breakout Discussion Groups (4 sessions)
1:30 PM Lecturers: Dr. William Darity Jr. & Kirsten Mullen
2:45 PM Concurrent Breakout Discussion Groups (4 sessions)
4:00 PM Music & Networking Dinner
5:00 PM Keynote: Bryan Stevenson, Founder, Equal Justice Initiative
Day 2 — Sunday, October 12 (Mass Incarceration-Focused)
9:00 AM Welcome Remarks
9:15 AM Lecturer: Andrea Armstrong — Deaths in custody and prison accountability
10:15 AM Lecturer: James Forman Jr. — Locking Up Our Own
11:30 AM Concurrent Breakout Discussion Groups (4 sessions)
1:15 PM Moving Forward / Next Steps Panel
2:30 PM Closing Remarks
Featured Speakers
Bryan Stevenson (Keynote)
Steve Hahn
Donald Yacovone
Andrea Armstrong
James Forman Jr.
William Darity Jr.
Kirsten Mullen
2025 Sponsors
The Bob Moses Fund
Cambridge Community Foundation
The Algebra Project
Young People's Project
Boston University
Impact
500+
Virtual Attendees
$9,000+
"Count Me In" Donations
$40K+
Sponsorships
15+
Hours On-Demand
Schedule
Day 1 — Saturday, April 27
11:00 AM Welcome: Drum solo by Ron Savage · Danny Glover reading Rev. Turner McNeal's Address to Congress, 1865 · Welcome by Dr. Janet Moses
11:30 AM Lecture #1: Kirsten Mullen — "The Principles of Reconstruction: Still a Viable Route to Full Citizenship" · Moderator: Nicholas Lemann
1:00 PM Lecture #2: Julian Zelizer (Princeton) — "LBJ, Atlantic City and the Taming of the Civil Rights Movement… And Here We Are!" · Moderator: Joannie Wynne
2:30 PM Show & Tell Sessions: DESPA Experience (Cliff Freeman, Greg Budzban) · Reconstruction Data (Prof. Nathan Alexander, Howard/Morehouse) · Street Theory Art (Victor Quiñonez / Marka27, Moses Mitchell) · 21st Century Freedom School with incarcerated artists (Claudia Peña, Bryonn Bain / UCLA)
3:30 PM Lecture #3: Elizabeth Hinton (Yale) — "Mass Incarceration: The Social Control of 'Disposable' Communities" · Moderator: Maria Lovett (FIU)
4:45 PM Lecture #4: Laura Kurgan (Columbia) — "The Carceral Merry Go Round: Million Dollar Blocks" · Moderator: Ben Moynihan
Day 2 — Sunday, April 28
11:00 AM Welcome: Invocation by 2Truth, Spoken Word Artist · Welcome by Ben Moynihan
11:15 AM Lecture #5: Bettina Love (Columbia) — "Africans Built the Pyramids. How Come Black Kids in America Can't Do Math?" · Moderator: Brian Williams (FIU)
2:00 PM Lecture #6: Margaret Burnham (Northeastern) — "The Jim Crow Roots of Police Violence in Black and Latino Communities" · Moderator: Ernesto Cortes (MacArthur Fellow, IAF)
2:30 PM Panels: Voting Our Way Out (Liz Miranda, Rahsaan Hall, Jacqueline Fonseca, Christopher Worrell) · Organizing Education Inside and Outside the Wall (Lee Perlman/MIT, Mac Hudson/Emerson, Stan Andrisse/Howard)
3:00 PM Lecture #7: William Darity Jr. — "The IOU for the Devastation of Black Life: From Slavery and Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration" · Moderator: Tasseli McKay
3:45 PM DESPA Presentation: Greg Budzban, Cliff Freeman, Amina Osman, Sharif Abdullahi
3:55 PM Closing Panel: "Where Do We Go From Here?" — William Darity, Margaret Burnham, Liz Miranda, Elizabeth Hinton, Sean Evelyn (Truth) · Moderator: Ernesto Cortes
4:55 PM Closing Remarks: Dr. Janet Moses
Featured Speakers
Danny Glover
Kirsten Mullen
Julian Zelizer
Elizabeth Hinton
Laura Kurgan
Bettina Love
Margaret Burnham
William Darity Jr.
Ernesto Cortes
Rahsaan Hall
Liz Miranda
Tasseli McKay
Nicholas Lemann
Bryonn Bain
Victor Quiñonez (Marka27)
2024 Sponsors
The Algebra Project
Andrew Goodman Foundation
Cambridge Community Foundation
Young People's Project
MIT
Bob Moses Research Center
Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative
Civil Media / Restorative Justice
NAACP Cambridge Branch
Schedule
Day 1 — Saturday, January 28
9:00 AM Welcome by Melissa Nobles, Chancellor, MIT & Co-founder, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Program
9:15 AM Lecturer: Khalil Gibran Muhammad — "The Condemnation of Blackness, the Criminalization of Blackness: Precursors to the Carceral State"
10:30 AM Lecturer: Nicholas Lemann — "Reconstruction and The Battle for Citizenship and/or Voting, Violence and Reconstruction"
11:45 AM Breakout Groups: Margaret Burnham (By Hands Now Known), Desmond Meade (Disenfranchisement), Vincent Warren (13th Amendment Loophole), Chesa Boudin (Criminal Justice Reform)
1:45 PM Lecturers: Dr. William Darity Jr. & Kirsten Mullen — "The Social Ecology of a Disposable People"
3:00 PM Breakout Groups: Douglas Blackmon (Slavery by Another Name), Tasseli McKay (Stolen Wealth Hidden Power), Rasul Mowatt (Geographies of Threat), Rahsaan Hall (Juvenile Injustice)
4:00 PM Music of Liberation by The Ron Savage Trio & Larry Watson · Kalief Browder Documentary Preview
Day 2 — Sunday, January 29
11:00 AM Lecturer: Goodwin Liu — "Education, Equality, and the Constitution"
12:15 PM Breakout Groups: Nicholas Lemann (Ending Affirmative Action), Mark Rosenbaum (Detroit School to Prison Pipeline), James Anderson (Education, Voting, and Political Power)
2:00 PM Moving Forward/Next Steps: Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Tasseli McKay, William Darity Jr.
3:00 PM Closing: Janet Moses, Margaret Burnham, Danny Glover
Featured Speakers
Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Nicholas Lemann
Margaret Burnham
Desmond Meade
Chesa Boudin
William Darity Jr.
Kirsten Mullen
Douglas Blackmon
Tasseli McKay
Rahsaan Hall
Goodwin Liu
Kelly Lytle Hernandez
Danny Glover
2023 Sponsors
The Bob Moses Fund
Cambridge Community Foundation
MIT
The Algebra Project
Young People's Project
Schedule
Day 1 — Saturday, April 9
11:30 AM Welcome: Paul Parravano (MIT) · Remarks: Danny Glover · Intro: Janet Moses
11:30 AM Lecture I: Nicholas Lemann — "The Future of Bob Moses's Work" · Moderator: Maisha Moses
Breakout Groups: Peggy Cooper Davis (Federal Right to Education), Mark Rosenbaum (Literacy & Antiracist Education), Jon Rochkind (Recruiting Black Educators)
2:30 PM Lecture II: Dean James Anderson — "Schooling for Democratic Citizenship" · Co-Moderators: Charles Payne, Joan Wynne
Breakout Groups: Dr. Nettrice Gaskins (Artivism), Lynne Godfrey & Ben Moynihan (Algebra Project at King Open), Alan & Michelle Shaw (Homeschooling)
5:30 PM Film Screening: Caste in the Classroom & Fireside Chat with Janet Moses, Phillip Agnew, Manuel Fernandez
Day 2 — Sunday, April 10
11:30 AM Lecture III: Jarvis R. Givens (Harvard) — "The Fugitive Life of Black Teaching" · Moderators: Phillip Agnew, Cliff Freeman
Breakout Groups: Dr. Gregory Budzban (Accelerate, Don't Remediate), Abdi M. Ali (Pipeline of Black Teachers), Kathleen FitzGerald (How to Teach What Really Happened)
2:30 PM Lecture IV: Imani Perry (Princeton) — "Bob Moses and the Ideal of Constitutional Citizenship" · Moderator: Cynthia Silva Parker
Breakout Groups: Dr. Nettrice Gaskins (AI & Black Consciousness), Charles Payne (Freedom Schools), Maisha Moses & Cliff Freeman (Credentialing Young People to Teach Math)
3:00 PM Closing Remarks: Dr. Cornel West · Introduction by Janet Moses
Featured Speakers
Dr. Cornel West (Closing)
Danny Glover
Imani Perry
Nicholas Lemann
James Anderson
Jarvis R. Givens
Peggy Cooper Davis
Mark Rosenbaum
Phillip Agnew
Dr. Nettrice Gaskins
Kathleen FitzGerald
2022 Sponsors
The Algebra Project
Cambridge Community Foundation
MIT
NAACP Cambridge Branch
Young People's Project