"Good Troublemakers" Event Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Cincinnati's Civil Rights March

March on Washington, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous march inspired Dr. Otis Moss Jr., then a young minister in Cincinnati, to hold a similar one here. Dr. Moss will be one of the speakers at “Good Troublemakers,” along with the son of Rabbi Joachim Prinz. Photo: Photographer unknown/Wikimedia Commons

Seventeen Greater Cincinnati organizations are coming together to honor those who made “good trouble.”

“Good Troublemakers” is an evening celebrating the 60th anniversary of Cincinnati’s March and Vote for Freedom, as well as the common fight for civil rights and the pledge to uphold those tenets today. It’ll be held at the Zion Baptist Church Thursday, Oct. 26 from 7-8:30 p.m.

Several Jewish, Christian and secular organizations, including the City of Cincinnati’s Office of Human Relations, Zion Baptist Church, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Archives and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), are spearheading the event. JRC was also one of the major organizers of Cincinnati’s 1963 march.

“The 60th anniversary of the March on Cincinnati deserves recognition and memorialization,” Dr. Gary P. Zola, executive director emeritus of the American Jewish Archives, said in a press release. “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.”

Organizers say Good Troublemakers is an embodiment of Dr. King’s vision of freedom, justice and equality. The night will feature both Dr. Moss and Rabbi Jonathan Prinz, the son of the March on Washington speaker Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke right before Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The evening will conclude with a performance from Rabbi Micah Lapidus and vocalist Melvin Kindall Myles of Ebenezer Baptist Church, who call their work together “music for people with conscience.”

Good Troublemakers is free and open to the public.

Zion Baptist Church, 630 Glenwood Avenue, North Avondale.

Subscribe to CityBeat newsletters.