Wichitan Roy Moye III earns GRAMMY nomination

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - An album of uplifting songs for children by artists of color helped a Wichitan receive his first GRAMMY nomination.

Roy Moye III is one of 24 artists featured on the album All One Tribe, released this year on Juneteenth (June 19) to celebrate the accomplishments and culture of persons of color. Moye performs “Black Lives Made STEM History” on the album, which was nominated for Best Children’s Album. The GRAMMY awards ceremony is happening on April 3, 2022.

The group calls itself 1 Tribe Collective.

“We all came together during the pandemic in response to George Floyd, in response to (diversity) not being seen or recognized in the GRAMMYs in the past in the children’s/family music category,” Moye said. “We are Black family/children’s music artists who decided to come together to do this album,”

Moye’s song honors the revolutionary accomplishments of Black and African pioneers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Moye sings about the origins of mathematics in Africa, important inventions of Black luminaries and the wonder of the Pyramids in Egypt, among other topics.

Among the people the song celebrates are:

Dr. Shirley Jackson, the first Black woman to earn a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Louis Latimer, a Black inventor during the 19th century
Herman Branson, a Black physicist and chemist known for discovering the Alpha Helix
Garrett Morgan, who patented the first traffic signal in the United States in 1923

“There’s so much within the history of (STEM) that Black people contributed to,” Moye said.

The chorus says:

Black lives made STEM history

So many inventions you can see

Changed the world for you and me

“These artists are from all over the country, some globally as well, and we all submitted different songs to showcase (to) Black and brown kids who look just like them who are making music for them to encourage them.”

Moye was born in Germany but has lived in Kansas since attending Wichita State. He’s primarily a gospel artist who has been featured on television and in high-profile singing competitions; he has also sung the National Anthem at Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs and Oklahoma City Thunder games.

Moye describes himself as an enthusiastic advocate for STEM whose love of airplanes inspired him to further pursue his passion. He earned a degree in Aerospace Engineering at WSU, with a minor in mathematics, and works for Spirit Aerosystems recruiting engineers; he was formerly a Structural Design Engineer.

“When I think about kids growing up in Wichita, and specifically kids of color - you can be more than one thing. You can do more than one thing,” Moye said. “I think that sometime that story isn’t told enough, and it’s an important story that needs to be told that if you’re passionate about multiple things, you can pursue them.”