Pictured is Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle, interim pastor at Antioch Baptist Church, one of Cleveland's most prominent Black churches
CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Martin Luther King Jr Holiday was Jan 17 and the Western Reserve Historical Society, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio, will celebrate the history, spirit, and life of King., one of America’s greatest heroes of social justice and equality, on Thurs, Jan 20 from 6:00pm-7:30pm, an online event open to the public. The keynote speaker is the Rev Dr. Marvin A McMickle, a former Cleveland NAACP president and interim pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, which is among the city's most prominent and historical Black churches.
Contributed by the Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle, author, Let the Oppressed Go Free: Exploring Theologies of Liberation
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Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1948, Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle is a 1970 graduate of Aurora University in Illinois with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. His alma mater also awarded him the degree of doctor of divinity in 1990. He earned a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1973 and did two additional years of graduate study at Columbia University in New York.
He earned a doctor of ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey in 1983, and he was awarded the doctor of philosophy degree (Ph.D.) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1998. He was also awarded the degree of doctor of humane letters by Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio in 2010.
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A brilliant orator by most if not all standards. McMickle was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1973 at Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City where he served on the pastoral staff from 1972-1976. He served as the pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey from 1976-1986 and was senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio from 1987-2011. During that time, he led the church in establishing a ministry for people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
This ministry was the first of its kind in the entire country. The church also instituted a community tithing initiative in which the church tithed out 10% of its annual budget to various community programs and agencies. Dr. McMickle was named pastor emeritus in 2018 and became interim pastor in May of 2020.
McMickle is also a former member of the board of trustees of Cleveland State University, former president of the Cleveland NAACP and Urban League, and a prior president of the Shaker Heights Board of Education. A former congressional candidate some years ago and an author who has written books on the constitution and the separation of church and state and its impact on American politics, Rev. McMickle is the longtime husband of Peggy Noble McMickle, whom he married in 1975. The couple has an adult son.
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