Mose Yvonne Hooks was trailblazer and a driving force for Memphis In May
The year was 1976, eight years after the assassination of the Dr. Martin Luther King, and I had asked Harold Shaw, Sr. an African American insurance company executive at Universal Life, to have lunch with me at the Little Tea Shop to listen to an idea that I had to help Memphis make a turn around.
Since 1968, the city had fallen on hard times, the Peabody closed and was sold on the courthouse steps, Beale Street had closed except for Schwabs, the Orpheum was running X-rated movies and according to Jimmy Ogle, there were more people living in the jail than the rest of downtown. Newsweek called Memphis “a Decaying Backwater River Town.”
At that time, the city was about 5050 black and white and I knew the new Memphis In May could not be successful if it were for whites only. Harold listened intently and asked “Are you’ll going to listen, which I took as “are you white boys going to listen?” I said that we want to sit at the table with you and anyone else that you bring to the table from the African American community to come up with ideas for out city to move forward.
Harold said, “I want to bring George
Brown,” a lawyer and school board member to the first meeting. They liked what they heard and said that they would like to bring Dr. Mose Yvonne Brooks Hooks to the next meeting. She was the head of curriculum at Shelby State Community College.
At the end of that meeting Dr. Hooks said, “what an opportunity to teach all the kids in the schools about a different country each year.” We were all blown away by the idea. We immediately made her chairman of the Education Committee and told her that we would raise the funds for the committee and she could invite anyone that she wanted to be on her committee.
Dr. Hooks died May 15 at the age of 81, leaving a huge legacy.
What Dr. Hooks and her team did was remarkable
The committee worked with the honored country to develop the curriculum and then worked with each school to help the teachers implement the curriculum. The curriculum included facts about the country, the music, food, dance and the dress of the country.
When the ambassadors and other dignitaries visited the schools they were so impressed that Memphis would take the time and energy to teach the next generation about their country. All of the kids were in the dress on their country and they were serenaded with the songs of their country and the food of their country.
In addition to the committee there were so many parents from all of the schools to volunteer to help on this creative program. True community involvement.
One of the programs of the Education Committee was an essay competition with those winners being sent to the honored country in an exchange for
students from the honored country coming here to study. I believe that there were 14 students in the exchange.
Dr. Hooks was asked in an interview at WYPL TV last year what was here favorite part of this program and her other work in International Educational programs at Universities. ”as an educator I get to advise young people on learning about the world…we are one world and we need to do more to educate our students about this world.”
“Because of the Memphis In May educational program we lead the world in international understanding, “said Dr. Hooks in that interview.
I did some estimates of the number of kids that have benefited from Dr. Hook’s grand educational idea over 42 years between 1.5 million and 2 million of Memphis and Shelby County’s young people.
Mose Yvonne was the first African American woman who became President of a city wide organization when Mexico was honored.
Dr. Mose Yvonne Hooks was a woman who made real positive change in Memphis and for our children.
Lyman D. Aldrich, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Memphis In May