Joseph Gibson Moss (April 26, 1922 – March 22, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a state legislator and chancery judge in Mississippi. He served in the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

for Hinds County for 20 years. He served on the

Mississippi Sovereignty Commission The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (also called the Sov-Com) was a state agency in Mississippi from 1956 to 1977 tasked with fighting desegregation and controlling civil rights activism. It was overseen by the Governor of Mississippi. T ...

for 8 years.

Early life

Joseph (Joe) Gibson Moss was born on April 26, 1922, in Jackson, Mississippi. He attended public schools in the city before transferring out of Central High School his senior year to attend Hinds County Agricultural High School in

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

, MS. Upon high school graduation he was awarded scholarship to and enrolled at

Hinds Junior College Hinds Community College is a public community college with its main campus in Raymond, Mississippi and branches in Jackson and Vicksburg. The Hinds Community College District includes Hinds County, Claiborne County, part of Copiah County, Ra ...

where he played on the football team. While there, he met Permelia Williams, and the two married on June 6, 1944. Moss had previously enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, rising to the rank of first sergeant in the 281st Combat Engineers Battalion, Third Army. He received three battle stars during the conflict, including one for the Battle of Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge). At the end of the war he returned to Hinds and received his associate's degree before attending

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics (1948) Following graduation from Mississippi State, Moss taught agriculture classes at a high school in

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

, MS and during that time he earned a law degree at night from Jackson School of Law. He practiced law in Raymond from 1956 to 1979.

Political career

In 1956. Moss was elected to the

at-large seat for

Hinds County Hinds County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. With its county seats ( Raymond and the state's capital, Jackson), Hinds is the most populous county in Mississippi with a 2020 census population of 227,742 residents. Hinds Cou ...

. He served out five terms, leaving the body in 1975, after losing reelection in a Democratic primary matchup with another incumbent due to district

reapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...

in Hinds County. He served on the

from 1960 to 1968. He also served on the Education Committee, Ways & Means Committee, Public Utilities Committee, State Building Commission and PEER Committees during his time in the Mississippi House of Representatives. In 1978 Moss was elected chancery judge for the Fifth Chancery Court District. He served three terms in that post and upon retirement from the bench, he took senior status whereupon he was assigned special cases until 1992. He was a Democrat

Later life

In 1999, the Hinds Community College baseball field in Raymond was named in Moss' honor. In 1985, he was awarded Mississippi College School of Law (formerly Jackson School of Law Alumnus of the Year and in 2004 Hinds Community College (formerly Hinds Junior College) award him the same honor. He died in Raymond, MS on March 22, 2009.

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Joseph G. 1922 births 2009 deaths Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Hinds Community College alumni Mississippi state court judges Mississippi State University alumni