Rev. Curtis Gatewood to preach and to speak at Forum, Sunday, January 19

Listen to Rev. Gatewood's sermon
from his visit with us in 2013.

We welcome Reverend Curtis Gatewood to CUCC on Sunday, January 19. Reverend Gatewood will lead forum and discuss The Priorities of Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) 2014. He also will be our guest preacher during the 10:30am worship service. Please join us on Sunday, January 19, to hear this dynamic speaker and activist.

Reverend Curtis Everette Gatewood first became a card-carrying member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at ten years old and has since served the organization in several capacities. From 1995 to 2003, he served as President of the Durham Branch of the NAACP.

Before leaving Durham and moving to Oxford in 2003, Gatewood and the Durham Branch of the NAACP won a victory (one of many) against the City of Durham as the city was forced to install public restrooms at its main Durham Area Transit Authority (city bus terminal). From 2005 to 2011, Gatewood served as 2nd Vice President of the NC NAACP.

In 2011, under the leadership of NC NAACP President, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, Gatewood was hired to serve as HKonJ Coalition Coordinator, the NC NAACP’s first full-time community organizer who focuses on the group’s "Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People’s Assembly Coalition", a movement which has built a coalition of more than 160 partnering social justice organizations - a combined near two million constituents, centered around an HKonJ 14-Point People’s Agenda. HKonJ6’s rally in 2012 flooded the streets of downtown Raleigh, NC with an estimated15,000 demonstrators. HKonJ7 which took place on February 9, 2013, brought the largest crowd yet, an estimated 17,000 marchers.

Prior to serving as the HKonJ Coordinator, Gatewood was hired to serve as North Carolina Field Director for "One Nation Working Together" - a national initiative spearheaded by the National NAACP and National AFL-CIO. The national "One Nation" movement was inspired by the HKonJ model.

Reverend Gatewood works closely with Dr. Barber in the Moral Monday and Forward Together Moral Movement and was the first of the nearly 1,000 Moral Monday detainees to be arrested during acts of civil disobedience on April 29, 2013. Seventeen were arrested initially which included Dr. Barber, the Moral Monday leader and HKonJ Convener.

Gatewood is blessed with a beautiful and supportive wife Odessa Burnette Gatewood, son Anthony Hawkins, daughter, Desmera Curtise, and four granddaughters, the latest named after Gatewood’s middle name "Everette."
- Submitted by Joan McAllister
(Bio provided by Rev. Gatewood)