Serving Ulysses Byas Elementary School in the Roosevelt School District in New York for several decades, Dr. Emily Moore is recognized as an award-winning physical education teacher. Prior to her academic retirement in 2019, she was a teacher and varsity boys’ and girls’ tennis coach. In her post-retirement years, she was elected a member of the school board for the Roosevelt School District in 2020, where she remains today.
Alongside her primary path, Dr. Moore has thrived as the founder and executive director of the Alliance Junior Tennis Development Program, Inc., a local camp that uses tennis to encourage students to leverage the structure and discipline of the sport of tennis in their educational pursuits. The program has afforded several students many opportunities to attend college on tennis scholarships. Dr. Moore was lauded by the late Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson for her success and tenacity in this regard. She was also inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame by the United States Tennis Association in Brooklyn in 2019.
Dr. Moore holds a Bachelor of Science in physical education and a Doctor of Philosophy, with honors, from Morgan State University and a Master of Science in education and counseling from Hofstra University. Additionally, during her collegiate studies in the 1960s, Dr. Moore was the first of 11 students at Morgan State University to be arrested for refusing to leave a segregated movie theater. Impressively, the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated Dr. Moore and her peers during a visit to Morgan State University following the event. Dr. Moore is certified in K-12 physical education in the state of New York.
Outside of her vocational endeavors, Dr. Moore volunteered with the Peace Corps in Nigeria and was an organizer for The Friends of SNCC in Paris. She also served as an ambassador to the People-to-People program, as well as served for three years in a delegation touring the United States and Tanzania. Notably, during the 1970s, Dr. Moore visited Puerto Rico to visit several facilities – including schools, prisons, museums and libraries – to share her wealth of knowledge. She also authored “Just Like It Is,” her poetry book.
Decorated with numerous accolades, Dr. Moore was most recently inducted into the Eastern Hall of Fame in 2021 alongside such prominent names as Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss, Dr. Harold German and Dr. Dale Caldwell, among others. Looking forward, Dr. Moore intends to continue serving students in her area and enjoying her retirement.