Richard Moss '70 has taught history at C.A. Johnson High School in Columbia, S.C., for 28 years--and held classes after school, visited students' homes and invited them to his, gently pushing them to excel. A white man, Moss maintains a warm relationship with his students, all of them black.

In 1963, when local public schools reopened after resisting integration for years, Moss honored his father, an outspoken opponent of the school closings, by choosing to spend his senior year at an all-black high school. "I think it had a direct effect on why I teach where I do and why I like teaching the students I do," he told the Columbia Times-Dispatch.

C.A. Johnson draws students primarily from a low income, inner-city area. Kids deal with unsettled home lives and work after school to help put food on the family table. Many struggle simply to attend classes.

When the opportunity to teach at C.A. Johnson came along 28 years ago, Moss knew he would get along well with the students "and help with learning, growing up, maturing," he said. "I felt somehow that I could do something."