Jerry Alexander Moore Jr. (June 12, 1918 – December 19, 2017) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early years and education

Moore was born in

Minden, Louisiana Minden is a city and parish seat in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 13,082. History Minden was established in 1836 by Charl ...

, to Mae Dee Moore and Jerry Alexander Moore Sr. Moore earned his high school diploma in 1936 from the Webster Parish Training School, later Webster High School, which was disbanded in the 1970s because of

school desegregation School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and rema ...

. He graduated from

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1940 and earned a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

degree in 1943 from Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1957, Howard awarded Moore a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree.

Career

Moore served as pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church from 1946 to 1996. In 1969, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

appointed him to the District's old appointed council. He resigned in 1972 to run for the D.C. Delegate, but lost the primary to William Chin-Lee. Later that year he was reappointed by Nixon to the seat he'd vacated and remained on the Council until it was replaced by the elected Council in 1975. In 1974, Moore was elected as a Republican to be an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

member of the

Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...

in the first election after

home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

was established; he held that position for ten years. In 1984, he lost the Republican primary to Carol Schwartz and then ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign against her in the general election. He ran again for an at-large seat as a Republican in 1988, but finished in 3rd behind John Ray and William Lightfoot, when only the top two would be seated. In 1989, President Bush nominated Moore to be the United States ambassador to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

Personal

Moore was married to Dr. Ettyce Herndon Hill Moore from 1946 until her death in 2014. Educated at both Howard and American Universities, his wife served as a teacher, principal and executive administrator within the

District of Columbia Public Schools The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter ...

system. She was also a professor at both

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

and Howard University. They had two sons.

References

External links

* 1918 births 2017 deaths African-American Baptist ministers Baptist ministers from the United States African-American people in Washington, D.C., politics Members of the Council of the District of Columbia Politicians from Minden, Louisiana Washington, D.C., Republicans Morehouse College alumni Howard University alumni People from Minden, Louisiana Baptists from Louisiana 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people {{WashingtonDC-politician-stub