Doss ’57 achieved two firsts for African Americans

Ulysses S. Doss Jr. ’57 was the first African American to become an ordained minister in Wisconsin and first to become a full professor at University of Montana-Missoula. It was at Missoula where, in 1968, he worked with students to found what was just the second African-American Studies program in the nation. He served as director of the program for 25 years until his retirement in 1993. Doss died in August 2021.

“When looking back across UM’s 128-year history, it is hard to think of anyone who had a greater impact on this campus than Ulysses Doss,” said UM President Seth Bodnar at the time of Doss’ death. “He created an academic department from scratch and dedicated his professional life to empowering UM students. Ulysses’ contributions to our university will continue to benefit students and Montana for generations to come.”

Doss was known for teaching in standing-room-only classes for both students and the Missoula community. His professional life was marked by years of passionate service to the civil rights movement, professorship and community. During the 1960s, Doss led civil rights activities as an Ordained Minister on Chicago’s westside. He founded the Christian Action Ministry, a local civil rights group focused on racial discrimination.

During that era he was appointed President of the Garfield organization furthering his fight for racial equality. While there, he worked with Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond, John Lewis and Jesse Jackson to coordinate civil rights activities in greater Chicago and around the country.

The Ulysses S. Doss scholarship fund was established at UM to annually support a student who is studying African American Studies and has a financial need.

Doss studied psychology and classics at Ripon. He participated in track and field, basketball, football and Phi Kappa Pi and was commissioned through ROTC. He was elected to the Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995. He earned a bachelor of divinity degree from what is now the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in humanities from Union Graduate School in Cincinnati.