Maurice J. Moyer (August 8, 1918 – March 6, 2012) was an African-American Christian minister from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

and a civil rights advocate who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1955, he started Delaware's first black

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church.

Biography

Moyer was a native of

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. He was the son of Charles Raymond and Flora Adelia Moyer. At the age of 4, his family moved to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, later returning to Chattanooga where he graduated from

Howard High School Howard High School may refer to: * David T. Howard High School, a former high school in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. * Howard High School of Technology, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. * Howard High School (Howard County, Maryland), in Ellicott City, Maryla ...

. He served in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

from 1938 to 1945. He attended Lincoln University, Lincoln Theological Seminary (graduated in 1949), and

Princeton Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

. He joined the

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity in 1947. He founded the Community Presbyterian Church, the first black Presbyterian Church in Delaware, on Rogers Road in New Castle in 1955, and served as the church's pastor for 46 years, retiring in 1998. In 1963–1964, he was the first black moderator of the New Castle Presbytery. Moyer fought against the Delaware Innkeepers Law, which allowed proprietors to refuse service to anyone; it was revoked in 1963. He was instrumental in getting the first African-American hired by Diamond State Telephone (now Verizon Delaware). He died on March 6, 2012, at the

Christiana Hospital Christiana Hospital is a 906-bed nationally ranked, non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located in Stanton, Newark, Delaware, servicing the entire Delaware area and parts of southern New Jersey. Christiana Hospital is the ...

. Upon his death, Governor Jack Markell ordered flags in Wilmington and New Castle County lowered in his honor.

Other roles

* 1960–1964: President of the Wilmington branch of the

NAACP 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.&nb ...

*Founder of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League *1965–1966: Program Coordinator of the Neighborhood Youth Corps under the Wilmington Board of Education *1966–1967: Project Director of Community Schools for

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

Department of Parks and Recreation *1967–1970: Career Coordinator at Bancroft Middle School *1970–1972: Administrator of the Layton Home for Aged Persons

Awards

* 1962:

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty advi ...

Citizen's Award

Private life

Moyer married Vivian Cleopatra on 13 October 1944. He had two sons: Thomas Jerome (1947) and Norman Gayraud (1950).

Places named after him

* Maurice J. Moyer Academy: Professional training school in Wilmington

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyer, Maurice 1918 births 2012 deaths People from Chattanooga, Tennessee African-American activists African-American Christian clergy American Christian clergy 21st-century African-American people Howard High School of Technology alumni