home > Jacksonian

Keke Lowe

Photo by Charles A. Smith
September 22, 2002

Marquise "Keke" Lowe has lived in Jackson his whole 19-year-old life. Lowe, a slim teenager with amused chestnut eyes and a small, sculpted face, grew up in Shady Oaks, attended Bailey Magnet High School and now lives Downtown. He's studying computer science and business at Tougaloo College so he can own his own computer-programming company. "Technology is trying to run things right now," he says.

The afternoon of Sept. 11, Lowe is hanging inside the Tougaloo cafeteria in Warren Hall, as red, white and blue balloons bounce and bob along North Tougaloo Boulevard. He wears a large red Ecko T-shirt, short Ecko jeans, a long gold chain with a Madonna emblem and white Nikes with red swooshes. A red sweatband is wrapped around his closely cropped head.

Lowe met Bob Moses when he was in the sixth grade. The legendary leader of Mississippi's Freedom Summer in 1964, Moses started The Algebra Project in the early 1980s to bring math literacy into low-income areas, like where Lowe grew up. When Moses and his family brought their fun and dynamic "math games" to his school, Lowe was in a "sleepy" math class, but then asked to transfer to the "energy class." "At least I could stay awake," he says.

The Algebra Project taught Lowe to be good at math and proud of it, even when his friends picked on him about it. And he learned about the state's civil-rights history from the quiet teacher from New York City who had been beaten repeatedly for trying to help blacks vote. "I respect him a lot; he's done a lot for us," Lowe says of Moses.

Lowe found male figures in the Moses family that he didn't have at home, where he was raised by his grandparents. His father had died, and he had no relationship with his mother. He now is an Algebra Project mentor himself, offering a male role model to younger people, teaching them to value math and computers. "Having a lot of people believing in you keeps you going," he says, about to hurry off to class.

– Donna Ladd

posted by DonnaLadd on 09/22/02 at 03:19 PM. [printer version] Share |

COMMENTS

Hello, my name is April Davis. I also was an Algebra Project student, and a math literacy worker for the Young Peoples Project. I also serve on YPP's local advisory board. I was so pleased to see the article on KeKe and I think you should keep it up, possibly featuring a MLW in each edition.

posted by April Davis on 10/09/02 at 11:46 AM

April,

Thank you so much for writing. Please keep reading and tell your friends and family to comment on our stories. We want to know what we're doing right and what we can do better.

As for the Algebra Project, we will tell the public about the fine work of the Moses family, and all of the volunteers, every chance we get. In fact, watch for our next issue on Oct. 23, in which we are featuring comments from several members of the Moses family, as well as many other Jacksonians about why it's so important to vote. We hope to keep up the dialogue on the Web as well; we especially want to hear from young people about what can be done to get them interested in the political process sooner. Please pass the word.

Thanks much,

Donna Ladd

posted by ladd on 10/10/02 at 11:48 AM

Page 1 of 1 pages

:: recentcomments

Feb 10, 2012 | 02:12 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
DonnaLadd: Thanks, Maddow, for the credit and the link love for this post: on.msnbc.com/yflZ4j

Feb 09, 2012 | 09:50 PM
Biz Roundup: Welcoming New Businesses to Town
redlion: Interesting story. I actually patronized one of Scott's stores during a recent six week stay in the DC area. Still have a re-useable shopping bag from there. Had ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 04:55 PM
[Outlaw] A More Perfect Union
thabian: Loved this column not only for the very important subject matter, but because it contained a truly entertaining voice. I wanted to read more!!!!

Feb 09, 2012 | 04:35 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
DonnaLadd: Let's not forget when Rep. Holland tried to ban abortion back in 2006. Many of us weren't laughing about that stunt. Here's a 2010 report on him and a ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 04:15 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
Jason Meeks: brief mention of it in video :) by Colbert (via Twitter trending) http://tpmmuckraker. talkingpointsmemo.com/201 2/02/mississippi_rep_want ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 04:01 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
DonnaLadd: Oh, and I love it when Mississippi punks the nation.

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:57 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
DonnaLadd: I'm surprised anyone took it seriously. We heard about it earlier the week, and it seemed obvious before it was Holland. But we all deal with him. I'll ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:40 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
Lori G: I thought it was genius when I saw it. Of course, I knew the Colbert joke. I think that is the problem. In this state, there just aren't enough people that ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:20 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
DonnaLadd: I can totally see Holland on Colbert, both pretending to be conservatives! Ha!

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:16 PM
Fight the Power
rlnave: Attorney General Jim Hood was worried for nothing. Even though he was at the Supreme Court making arguments in the ongoing pardon case this morning, I'm hearing that Jackson Democratic Rep. ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:16 PM
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
Lori G: This is an old Colbert joke! I wish someone would send this to Colbert. I swear, I think he'd cover it.

Feb 09, 2012 | 03:02 PM
[Editor's Note] Aloha, Jackson
DonnaLadd: By the way, I looked up an image of the patch our captain friend gave us. Apparently, he is with the 25th Infantry Division; read more here.

Feb 09, 2012 | 01:23 PM
Biz Roundup: Welcoming New Businesses to Town
DonnaLadd: Case in point from the Christian Science Monitor: Whole Foods Killing off Small Natural Food Stores: After years of delivering organic produce to health-food ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 01:19 PM
Biz Roundup: Welcoming New Businesses to Town
DonnaLadd: This is a mixed blessing. They sell cool stuff, but they could shut McDade's and Rainbow down if we're not all careful about where we spend all our food money. ...

Feb 09, 2012 | 01:08 PM
[Outlaw] A More Perfect Union
DonnaLadd: Amazing column.

100 recent comments »

home > Jacksonian

Keke Lowe

COMMENTS

e-mail newsletter

just commented on...

most recent posts...

jfp featured event

Friday Forum

jfp best bets and recommended