FAITH IS
IN OUR DNA
Otis Moss Jr.
Pastor and Activist
Otis Moss Jr. was born on February 23, 1935 in LaGrange, Georgia. After losing his parents at the age of 16, he attended Morehouse College in 1951 and was mentored by Morehouse President Benjamin Mays, who also mentored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This connection to MLK fed many other events in Moss Jr’s life: leading sit-ins against segregation while at Morehouse, helping organize people to attend MLK’s 1963 March on Washington, becoming Regional Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and marching alongside MLK during 1965’s Selma March. Moss found resistance and “a marriage within the movement” when he was married by MLK to Edwina Hudson Smith in 1966.
His Cleveland life started in 1975 when he started preaching at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church. Otis Moss Jr. retired in 2008 and continues to reside in Cleveland.
PHOTO CREDIT: UNKNOWN
SOURCE: CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY