Submitted by the Jewish Community Relations Council
In honor of the 60th anniversary of Cincinnati’s “March and Vote for Jobs and Freedom,” 17 local organizations are coming together to promote “Good Troublemakers” — an evening to honor the common fight for civil rights and to pledge to uphold those tenets today. On October 26, at the Zion Baptist Church, 630 Glenwood Ave in Cincinnati, from 7- 8:30 PM, the public is welcome to join in commemoration of the 1963 march and in recognition of the ongoing collective struggle for civil rights.
Jewish, Christian, and secular organizations including the City of Cincinnati’s Office of Human Relations (OHR), 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, 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. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned, marched for, fought for, and ultimately for which he gave his life,” said Paul M. Booth, Division Manager, OHR. “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, when we allow freedom to 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 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. This is why we commemorate. This is why we must activate!” said Booth.
The anniversary evening will feature both the Reverend Otis Moss, Jr., organizer of the 1963 March in Cincinnati, and Rabbi Jonathan Prinz, son of the inspiring March on Washington speaker, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke to the participants only moments before Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. In addition, the evening will conclude with a performance by Atlantan residents Rabbi Micah Lapidus and vocalist Melvin Kindall Myles of Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The musical collaboration between the Rabbi Micah Lapidus and Melvin 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. Lapidus is an accomplished songwriter and composer, specializing in Jewish and spiritual music, who 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 Hebrew Union College.
