Ulysses S. Doss

Class of 1957, advocated for love, peace, equity

Ulysses S. Doss was a civil rights champion and a proponent for social justice for all. During the turbulent 1960s, he led civil rights activities as an ordained minister on Chicago’s west side. He founded the Christian Action Ministry, a local civil rights group focused on racial discrimination, and was appointed president of the Garfield organization furthering his fight for racial equality.

In 1968, he found himself at the University of Montana in Missoula at just the right time: he was given the opportunity to start a program there from scratch. His Black Studies Program became just the second Black studies program west of the Mississippi River.

Doss was born Jan. 18, 1933, in Racine, Wisconsin, and received a degree in psychology and classics from Ripon College. He participated in track and field, basketball and football, earning letters in each sport each year he participated. He was named Outstanding Athlete in 1956 and was inducted into the Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

In addition, Doss was a member of Phi Kappa Pi (Merriman), was commissioned through ROTC and received the Samuel N. Pickard Award in 1957.

He went on to earn 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.

While being involved in civil rights activities in Chicago, he worked with prominent Black leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond, John Lewis and Jesse Jackson to coordinate civil rights activities in the greater Chicago area and around the country.

“I worked with King in Chicago and Saul Alinsky in Chicago, and I worked with Monsignor John Egan,” he said. “I came from a background where you could do it, so I felt we could do it (at the University of Montana at Missoula).”

He recruited diverse students to come to Montana and brought diversity to that more isolated area. His classes for both students and the community were filled to capacity.

In honor of his influence, Doss received the Standard Oil Teacher of the Year award in 1971 and the Most Inspirational Teacher honor from the university in 1990. In 2013, the university established the Ulysses S. Doss Scholarship to assist students in the African American studies program. The program later became known as the African American Studies Program, and he led it for 25 years before retiring in 1993.

He also was a passionate golfer.

Throughout his career, Doss was a fervent advocate for social activism, civil rights, anti-racism and equity. He promoted love and peace.

In his reflective book of poetry, “We Have an Infinite Capacity to be Happy,” he wrote: “While we sit and wait, we live. And as we live, we share. And because we share, we can wait.”

And: “The life within demands living in the present with a gentle sensitivity … embracing each moment as though it were the last …”

He died Aug. 8, 2021, at the age of 88.