Joseph Ellwanger | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ellwanger in 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1934-02-18)February 18, 1934 (age 91) Selma, Alabama, U.S. |
| Spouse | Joyce |
| Residence(s) | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Concordia Seminary |
| Occupation | Pastor, Civil Rights Activist |
| Awards include the Human Rights Award from theBirmingham Civil Rights Institute | |
Joseph W. Ellwanger Jr. (born February 18, 1934) is aLutheran pastor, author, andcivil rights activist. He was a key figure in theCivil Rights Movement inBirmingham, Alabama, and the only white religious leader included in strategy meetings withMartin Luther King Jr.[1]
Born in 1934, Ellwanger spent part of his childhood inSelma, Alabama, where his father was a pastor and president ofAlabama Lutheran Academy and College. Ellwanger graduated fromConcordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.[2]
From 1958 to 1967, Ellwanger served as pastor of anAfrican-American church, St. Paul Lutheran, in Birmingham. During that time, Ellwanger became colleagues with Martin Luther King Jr.
Ellwanger answered the call of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to recruit students and clergy to join the movement in Selma to take part in the march for voting rights fromSelma to the state capital of Montgomery. Ellwanger took part in mass meetings, involving himself and members of his congregation in Civil Rights activities, and ultimately took a leadership role in community organizing. Ellwanger helped Martin Luther King Jr. and others plan the Birmingham demonstrations and helped organize the Saturday, March 6, 1965, march in Selma to support voting rights.[3]
Ellwanger was the only white minister in Birmingham who took such an active role in supporting equal rights forAfrican Americans.[4] Ellwanger spoke at the funeral for one of the four girls killed in the16th Street Baptist Church bombing in September, 1963, where Dr. King delivered the eulogy.[5][6]
King included Ellwanger in a group of 15 pastors who met withGovernor George Wallace. Ellwanger also met withPresident Lyndon B. Johnson to voice support for theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[7]
In 1967, Ellwanger left forMilwaukee, Wisconsin, where he served as pastor of Cross Lutheran Church until 2001.[8] In 1969, Ellwanger worked with theBlack Panther Party to expand the free breakfast program in Milwaukee; this program grew into what is nowthe Hunger Task Force.[9] In 1980, Ellwanger founded the prison ministry "Project RETURN," with the mission of aiding and rehabilitating citizens returning from incarceration.[10][11] After retiring from Cross Lutheran, Ellwanger spent a decade as a grassroots organizer for WISDOM, a statewide coalition of social justice groups inWisconsin. Ellwanger founded WISDOM's statewide Reform Our Communities (ROC) Campaign to reform Wisconsin's criminal justice system.
In 2008, Ellwanger was named as the recipient of the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award. It is the highest honor bestowed on an individual by theBirmingham Civil Rights Institute.[12]
Ellwanger was a recipient of the 2016 Social Innovation Prize from Interfaith Older Adult Programs. The award included $10,000 to continue his work to end mass incarceration in Wisconsin.[13]
Ellwanger has been a subject in a number of books, includingKing: A Biography byDavid Levering Lewis,Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 byJuan Williams,Kids in Birmingham 1963, andOn the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail byCharles E. Cobb Jr.
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