Cincinnati communities unite for ''Good Troublemakers''
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2023 MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org
Seventeen organizations commemorate 1963 Cincinnati civil rights march
Jewish, Christian and secular organizations including the City of Cincinnati's Office of Human Relations, Zion Baptist Church, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Archives and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) are spearheading the event. As one of the major organizers of the 1963 Cincinnati march, the JCRC continues to fulfill its mission of social justice today.
"The 60th anniversary of the March on Cincinnati deserves recognition and memorialization," said Dr. Gary P. Zola, executive director emeritus of the American Jewish Archives, where numerous records documenting the event have been preserved. "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s unforgettable March on Washington, which took place on August 28, 1963, inspired Dr. Otis Moss, Jr., then a young minister in Cincinnati, to replicate the effort here. Together with leaders from the Jewish community, Dr. Moss and local civil rights leaders of that era actualized a vision that resulted in the single largest public demonstration in Cincinnati up to that point in history."On Sunday, October 27, 1963, tens of thousands of Cincinnatians from diverse backgrounds came together in a peaceful Civil Rights March in Cincinnati. Christian and Jewish leaders recruited their communities. Using the example of the recent March on Washington, the people of Cincinnati marched together to bring attention to discrimination within the city and to promote voting in the upcoming election, which included the federal Civil Rights bill.
Good Troublemakers calls the Cincinnati community together in commemoration of the 1963 March for Freedom and Vote. It is an embodiment of the Beloved Community that Dr. King envisioned, marched for, fought for and ultimately gave his life for. Dr. King's riveting, powerful words still resonate and challenge us today to continue the fight for freedom, justice and equality. "And when this happens," Dr. King declared from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, "when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will we be able to join hands in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last."
The Good Troublemakers anniversary evening will feature both Dr. Moss, organizer of the 1963 march in Cincinnati, and Rabbi Jonathan Prinz, son of the inspiring March on Washington speaker Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke just moments before Dr. King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. In addition, the evening will conclude with a performance by Atlanta residents Rabbi Micah Lapidus and vocalist Melvin Kindall Myles of Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The musical collaboration between Rabbi Lapidus and Myles is unique. They call this work together "music for people with conscience," and their 2022 album "Better Angels" is a reaction to inequality and injustice. Rabbi Lapidus is an accomplished songwriter and composer, specializing in Jewish and spiritual music, and is also the director of Jewish and Hebrew Studies at the Alfred and Adele Davis Academy in Atlanta. Myles is a vocal performing artist from Clarksdale, MS, with a diverse musical repertoire of gospel, jazz, blues and classical.
"Good Troublemakers" is an evening to celebrate the past while also committing to a shared future. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jody Solomon at j.solomon@huc.edu or (513) 221-1279.
