Dr. Alexander Moore retired in 1986 from a storied 47-year career in the Indianapolis Public Schools. Beginning as a history and government teacher at Crispus Attucks High School in 1939, he rose through the ranks to become a respected administrative leader who played a key role in the desegregation of IPS.

Dr. Moore was named Dean of Boys at Attucks in 1943 and Vice Principal in 1949.  Among the many students he had watch over was a young basketball prodigy named Oscar Robertson, who also is being honored today.  In 1957, Dr. Moore became Principal of Crispus Attucks and led it through the changes of the 1960’s as the barriers of legalized segregation were ending.

Holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from Indiana University, Dr. Moore was among the first African-American named to an IPS central administrative office post. In 1971, he became Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, a role in which he oversaw the entire span of course offerings, magnet schools and literacy and assessment initiatives and 120 professional educators.

He was instrumental in planning the final step of court-ordered desegregation in 1981. He retired in 1986. Civil rights and equal opportunity are among his fundamental beliefs. In 1958, Dr. Moore and his beloved wife, Frances, co-founded the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, one of the first such neighborhood groups in the nation and an acknowledged force in resisting “block-busting” tactics to preserve the area as a stable, attractive, racially integrated community.