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REV. FRED L. SHUTTLESWORTH
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| Reverend Shuttlesworth is one of our nation’s most consequential leaders. Because of his significant role in the struggle for civil and human rights, especially in destroying Jim Crow segregation in the South, today’s generation is closer to fulfilling the American dream for all. This award was inaugurated in 2003 to honor Rev. Shuttlesworth as a distinguished Ohioan and to recognize an individual or organization for actions that continue to advance the legacy of this legendary figure of the civil rights movement. |  |
The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth Humanitarian Award is given annually to recognize the individual, group, or organization that best epitomizes Rev. Shuttlesworth's commitment to social justice, civil rights, and broadening opportunities for all Americans. The award and recognition are intended to express appreciation, to encourage continued efforts, and to identify the recipient as an example for the many others who share the same goals.
Potential recipients of the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth Humanitarian Award will be considered in light of the following criteria:
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth has devoted his life and work to securing and advancing the ideals of equity, opportunity and diversity in American society; and
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth has been recognized universally for his defense of the downcast and the downtrodden, and for his significant efforts to achieve social justice on their behalf; and
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth’s principled leadership continues to serve as profound inspiration and motivation to social justice advocates throughout Ohio and our nation; and
Whereas, all Americans, regardless of their race, creed or color, are the beneficiaries of freedoms, civil liberties and civil rights directly owing to Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth’s extraordinary contributions and sacrifices; and
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth’s heroic efforts to ensure justice and liberty for all have advanced the goal of perfecting our nation’s democracy; and
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, because of his magnificent courage in the face of tyranny and brutality, stands before the youth of Ohio and our nation as a genuine hero and role model; and
Whereas, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, because of his lifetime of effective work, in the field of civil and human rights, is without peer as Ohio’s most renowned leader from the “civil rights era;”
Therefore, be it resolved that The State of the State Conference recognizes Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth for his life and consequential work by establishing The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth Humanitarian Award.
2007 Recipient - Reverend Otis Moss, Jr. (Award Proclamation) |
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| Theologian, pastor, and civic leader the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. is one
of America's most influential religious leaders and highly sought-after public speakers. A native of the state of Georgia, Moss was born on
February 26, 1935 and was raised in the community of LaGrange. The son of Magnolia Moss and Otis Moss, Sr. and the fourth of their five children,
he earned his B.A. degree from Morehouse College in 1956 and his masters of divinity degree from the Morehouse School of
Religion/Interdenominational Theological Center in 1959. He also completed special studies at the Inter-Denominational Theological Center
from 1960 to 1961 and earned his Ph.D. degree in ministry from the United Theological Seminary in 1990.
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| From 1954 to 1959, Moss served as
pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church in LaGrange, Georgia. From 1956 to 1961, he also served as pastor of Atlanta's Providence Baptist
Church and therefore, simultaneously led two congregations from 1956 to 1959. From 1961 to 1975, he pastored the Mount Zion Baptist Church in
Lockland, Ohio, and in 1971, he served as co-pastor, with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. In 1975, he
was called to pastor Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio,
where he continues today.
Moss has been involved in advocating civil and human rights and social justice issues for most of his adult life. Having been a staff member of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he currently serves as a national board member and trustee for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change. His work in the international community has taken him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. He also traveled as a member of a clergy mission to the Far East in 1970 and to Israel in 1978. In 1994, he was the special guest of President William Jefferson Clinton at the Peace Treaty signing between Israel and Jordan, and, in that same year, he led a special mission to South Africa. Moss is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Human Relations Award from Bethune Cookman College in 1976, The Role Model of the Year Award from the National Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Development in 1992, Leadership Award from the Cleveland chapter of the American Jewish Committee in 1996, and an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from LaGrange College in 2004. In 2004, he participated in the Oxford Round Table in Oxford, England and was a guest presenter for the Lyman Beecher Lecture series at Yale University. ??Moss is married to the former Edwina Hudson Smith. They have three children, Kevin, Daphne (deceased), and Otis, III. |
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2005 Recipient - John E. More, Sr. (Award Proclamation) |
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| Perhaps the thing for which John E. Moore is most readily recognized is his enduring
contribution to the community. Few people have testaments to their achievements as "enduring" as a building, which bears that individual's name. When traveling north on I-75 North into Dayton, one can look to the right and see the Technologies Center building on Sinclair College's Campus, which bears the name of John E. Moore, Sr.
John Moore is a World War Two veteran and the retired chief of civilian personnel at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Upon his retirement from Wright-Pat in 1979, he continued his commitment to servant leadership by expanding into his second career; that of consummate community volunteer. |
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| Education, job training, human services, diversity and self-sufficiency have been areas of particular interest to John. He served 13 years on the Board of Sinclair Community College, the last five as Chair. He was also the first chair of the Dayton-Montgomery County Scholarship Program and is credited for expanding that scholarship opportunity into all school districts in Montgomery County. During his tenure, the number of scholarships awarded grew from 31 to 500 each year.
Mr. Moore has always understood the critical role that adults play in children's lives in steering them toward future success and self-sufficiency. He spearheaded the creation of the Montgomery County Mentoring Collaborative and with his friend and fellow community volunteer, Fred Smith, he established the Self-Sufficiency Task Force, which is an ongoing initiative through the Dayton Foundation. Mr. Moore has made two significant contributions to the community's efforts with diversity and fairness. One was the creation of Parity, Inc. a non-profit organization which he co-founded with the late Charity Earley to develop opportunities and to achieve a level playing field for African Americans. The other is the leadership he has brought to the Dayton Foundation's Diversity Task Force, which is focused on promoting cultural competence in the workplace, resolving housing and education and assuring fairness in the criminal/civil justice system. |
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2004 Recipients - Joanne Bland and the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute (Award Proclamation) |
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| Joanne Bland is co-founder and director of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama,,where she works to increase voter awareness. Raised in Selma’s G.W.C. Homes housing project, she began her civil rights activism as an eight-year-old attending a 1961 freedom and voters rights gathering presided over by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Students for a Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activists organized Bland and other area children and teenagers to participate in the civil rights movement. In the front lines of the struggle, the young Bland marched on "Bloody Sunday" and "Turn Around Tuesday," witnessing brutal beatings, shootings and hosing of fellow marchers by police. Denied permission by her father to march from Montgomery to Selma, she nonetheless insisted on walking on the first and last days of the famous march. |
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The National Voting Rights Museum collects and preserves the history of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights movements. The Museum sits at the foot of the historic Edmond Petus Bridge. It was here in 1965, known in Civil Rights lore as Bloody Sunday, that peaceful marchers were viciously attacked and beaten in their efforts to march to Montgomery to demonstrate in support of voting rights for African Americans. Ms. Bland has the distinction of being the youngest person to have been jailed as a participant in this demonstration. She was only 11 years old. As we move into another presidential election cycle, Ms. Bland’s presentation on the significance of the Selma struggle and the continuing relevance of voting in our participatory democracy will be especially timely. |
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2003 Recipient - Shanta Driver |
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| Shanta Driver is the National Director of United for Equality and Affirmative Action (UEAA). UEAA organized and directed the student intervention into Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court-bound, landmark affirmative action case involving the University of Michigan Law School. In the trial of Grutter, UEAA presented the broadest and deepest defense of affirmative action ever made in a court of law, exposing the separate and unequal quality of K-12 education, the bias inherent in the standardized tests, the effects of hostile racial climate on the academic performance of minority students, the failure of all attempted alternatives to affirmative action and the current impact and significance of race and racism in American society. |
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Ms. Driver also serves as the National Coordinator of the
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration, and Fight for
Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a named defendant in UEAA's
student intervention. BAMN is the leading national civil rights
organization fighting in defense of affirmative action and integration.
After a six-year campaign culminating in a 7,000-person rally in spring of
2001, BAMN successfully forced the University of California Regents to
reverse their ban on affirmative action at the University of
California.
Together, UEAA and BAMN organized thousands of students and union members to march through the cold and rain in Cincinnati, Ohio, influencing the swing vote in the Sixth Circuit's 5-4 decision to uphold affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School. UEAA and BAMN are currently mobilizing for a March on Washington to coincide with the Supreme Court hearing of Grutter which will take place on April 1, 2003 and which will determine the legal status of affirmative action nation-wide. Ms. Driver has been a leader in civil rights struggles for the past 25 years, and has led campaigns against police brutality, for women's rights, and for workers rights. |
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