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Creator
Turner, Otis, 1940-
Call number
Sc MG 436
Physical description
1/2 box
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Otis Turner papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Otis Turner Papers consist of speeches, sermons, articles, analyses and reports written by Turner. Included is a list of titles; some of the subjects he addressed are racism, justice, the Presbyterian Church, and Martin Luther King.

Biographical/historical information

The Reverend Doctor Otis Turner was born in Southern Georgia in 1940. Son of Plumpton and Enda Turner, he is a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Albany State College in 1962 and attended the Candler School of Theology at Emory University as the first African American ever accepted to this institution. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity Degree at Emory in 1969. In 1974 Turner received his Ph.D. in Social Ethics from Emory. His dissertation is entitled, “Toward an Ethic of Black Liberation Based on the Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael's Concept of Black Power.”

Turner was an assistant professor of religion at Wofford College in South Carolina from 1972-1977. He later worked as assistant dean and Director of the Division of Student Affairs at South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (1977-78). From 1978-1988 Turner was the director of the Council on Church and Race for the Presbyterian Church (USA), based in Atlanta, Georgia. Presently he is the Coordinator for Racial Justice Policy Development as well as the Administrator of the Fund for Legal Aid in the Racial Ethnic Ministry Unit of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Turner has received several awards and fellowships. Among them are the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Award, the Rockefeller Fellowship, and the Presbyterian Graduate Fellowship. He is a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, SCLC, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He has lectured around the world at institutions including The University of the Western Cape in Capetown, South Africa, and Tainang Theological Seminary in Tainang, China.

Turner has published articles in several journals such as the Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center.He has worked as a contributing editor for the “Jackson Advocate,” and “Racial Ethnic Torch.”

Scope and arrangement

The Otis Turner Papers (1978-1990) consist of speeches, sermons, articles, and reports written by Turner. Included is a list of titles, many of which are followed by the place and date of the item and its presentation. One article is unmentioned on this list, “Reflections on Justice,” written in July 1990. Another article, “Some of the Anguish; The Turbulent Sixties” is by a different author who mentions Turner and his experiences at Emory University. The papers are arranged by genre and by date within each genre, wherever the date is included.

Arrangement

Organized into five series: I. Personal Papers; II. Writings; III. Broadcasts; IV. Church Activities; V. Civil Rights Activities

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Rev. Dr. Otis Turner, February 4, 1991.

SCM 90-66

Processing information

Processed by Hanna Bailey; machine-readable finding aid created by Apex Data Services; revised by Terry Catapano.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor