Moore's record as a teacher of mathematics has been tarnished by his racism towards black students....African-American students were prohibited from even enrolling at the University of Texas until the late 1950s, and Moore himself was strongly in favor of segregation. After the University of Texas began admitting African-American students, he refused to allow them into his classes, even for mathematics graduate students such as
Vivienne Malone-Mayes. He told another African-American mathematics student, Walker E. Hunt, "you are welcome to take my course but you start with a C and can only go down from there"....
Moore was also known for repeatedly claiming that female students were inferior to male students, and, though "less pronounced than his racism", for his antisemitism. However, while Moore's racism is confirmed by several first-hand accounts of his refusal to teach African-American students, the often-repeated description of him as a misogynist and antisemite is based largely on his oral remarks. Some of the sources reporting these remarks, such as Mary Ellen Rudin, also point out that in fact he encouraged females who showed mathematical talent and that he had Jewish students, such as Edwin E. Moise...and Martin Ettlinger, and close colleagues, such as Hyman J. Ettlinger. His encouragement of Rudin and other white female students is documented and
between 1949 and 1970 (the earliest period when national data are known) 4 of Moore's 31 doctoral students (13%) were female, while nationally 175 were female out of 2646 doctoral graduates in mathematics and statistics (7%)
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