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Otis Clayton
I was born in the segregated black belt of (Shelby County) Memphis, Tennessee in 1952. I participated as a veteran in the Vietnam Aera War and civil rights demonstrations (voting rights protests) a...view moreI was born in the segregated black belt of (Shelby County) Memphis, Tennessee in 1952. I participated as a veteran in the Vietnam Aera War and civil rights demonstrations (voting rights protests) at Booker T. Washington High School. I heard The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr speak numerous times as I sat with my father, watched television, and was encouraged to support nonviolent civil disobedience. Further, I have always been inspired and motivated to remain aware of African-American history, heritage, and culture since childhood and throughout my life. However, my parents separated and divorced. They had nine children together: five sons and four daughters. But, as a single parent, my mother raised and educated her nine children. They completed high school, and several obtained advanced college degrees. More specifically, after graduating from LeMoyne Owen College, I married and volunteered for the United States Air Force. Through my military service, I was inspired and mentored by my Chaplain to serve God and humanity as a Baptist clergyman preacher through military service. Subsequently, I studied and received degrees from Central Michigan University, Memphis Theological Seminary, and Memphis State University. Although I pursued post-doctoral studies at Canterbury Christ Church University in Canterbury, England (Great Britain), I completed the requirements for the Doctorate of Ministry Degree in Homiletics at Vanderbilt University. Furthermore, subconsciously, my fraternal grandfather (or Papa), Silas Clayton, Sr., first stimulated my interest in philosophy, religion, and history from when I was a tiny infant until I became a man. Papa reminded me constantly through his stories or narration about his fraternal grandfather, Aaron Clayton. Aaron was an American slave whom President Abraham Lincoln emancipated. But Papa also believed that his grandfather’s freedom and other slaves’ freedom came by way of divine intervention.view less