Harold Gene Moss (October 1, 1929 – September 21, 2020) was an American politician and businessman who was the 34th mayor of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

.Cory Campbell
"Moss, Harold (1929-2020 )"
Black Past. Accessed online February 6, 2009. He was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

member of the city's council, its first African American mayor and the first African American member of the Pierce County Council.Notes for Series: TRUEBLOOD Image#: 1986 Date: 10-13-1970
, Tacoma Public Library Image Archives. Accessed online February 6, 2009. His wife, Bil Moss, was on the

Tacoma City Council The Tacoma City Council is the major governing body in the city of Tacoma, Washington. The City Council has one mayor and eight council members, who are elected to serve four-year terms. The City Council has the power to write the laws of the city, ...

Early life and education

Moss was born in

Gilmer, Texas Gilmer is a city in, and the county seat of, Upshur County, Texas. It is best known for being the home of the East Texas Yamboree and the birthplace of popular music singers Don Henley of the Eagles band and Johnny Mathis, as well as blues musicia ...

, on October 1, 1929, and his family later soon resettled in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

during the Great Migration. Moss attended the

Lewis College of Business Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design is a private, historically black college in Detroit, Michigan. It was also the first and only historically black college in Michigan. Founded in 1928 as the Lewis College of Business by Violet T. ...

before arriving in Tacoma during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

as a member of the

United States National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

(NAACP). He served two terms as branch president, served on Tacoma's first Human Relations Commission (later Human Rights Commission), and in 1968, Moss helped create the Tacoma

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

Debbie Abe, "Nordstrom to Honor Tacoma Mayor", ''Tacoma News Tribune'', September 21, 1995., p. B5. and played a key role in securing public funding for its Urban Services Center. Moss worked as a

dental technician A dental technologist (dental laboratory technician) is a member of the dental team who, upon prescription from a dental clinician, constructs custom-made restorative and dental appliances. There are four major disciplines within dental technol ...

and also operated a small business, Northwest Porcelain Studios. He left the business when he was hired by the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce and the Tacoma Area Coalition in spring 1968 to run the Central Area Employment Office, soliciting jobs for disadvantaged Tacoma-area residents. He entered electoral politics in 1969 as an unsuccessful candidate for the Tacoma City Council. A year later, five council members were recalled and Moss was appointed to a seat, which he took on October 13, 1970. He was elected to a full term in 1971, remaining a full-time employee of the Urban League throughout this period. The Urban League's national executive director,

Vernon Jordan Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was an American business executive and civil rights attorney who worked for various civil rights movement organizations before becoming a close advisor to President Bill Clinton. Jor ...

, asked Moss to step down from his elected position in 1975 to avoid compromising the League's

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

status. By 1983, Moss was no longer affiliated with the Urban League. That year, he ran unsuccessfully for city council. In February 1987, he was appointed to fill a council vacancy, ran that fall for a full term, won, and was reelected in 1991.Don Carter
In Line for Mayor of Tacoma; City Council Vote Likely To Be Unanimous for Moss
''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', January 25, 1994, p. B1. Accessed online February 6, 2009. In January 1994, Tacoma mayor Jack Hyde suffered a fatal heart attack nearly at the start of his term. Moss, who was deputy mayor at the time, was appointed mayor and served for two years. During his administration, Tacoma enacted a youth

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

law. Because the mayor is considered part of the city council, term limits prevented him from running as an incumbent in the 1995 election. During this period, Moss also worked as a civil-rights manager for the Washington State Department of Transportat , work=Seattle Times , date=January 25, 1994 , accessdate= February 6, 2009 Moss was subsequently elected to the Pierce County Council and was a member from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2004, including as council chair from 2002 to 2004, at which time he announced his retirement. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Tacoma in 2001, and came out of retirement in 2007 to launch an unsuccessful run for Tacoma City Council against the incumbent, Spiro Manthou. The 34th Street Bridge was renamed for Moss in October 2019, as he was the city's 34th mayor.

Personal life

In a September 1978 domestic argument, Moss shot his son in the shoulder with a .38-caliber revolver. No charges were ever pressed, and the two later reconciled. Moss died in Tacoma on September 21, 2020, ten days before his 91st birthday.

Notes

External links

Harold Moss
Tacoma Public Library image archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Harold 1929 births 2020 deaths Mayors of Tacoma, Washington Pierce County Councillors Washington (state) city council members African-American people in Washington (state) politics NAACP activists African-American mayors in Washington (state) People from Gilmer, Texas Texas National Guard personnel 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people