Rev. Dr. John Nelson Doggett

April 3, 1918- May 15, 2011

The Rev. Dr. John Nelson Doggett, past President of the St. Louis NAACP and beloved Pastor of Union Memorial Methodist Church, passed Sunday, May 15 at Parc Provence in Creve Coeur Missouri. A champion for justice and civil rights, he served the Freedom Rider Movement as Treasurer of the Western Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Doggett was pastor of Union Memorial Methodist Church from1964-1977. He also served as pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in the early 1980s and The St Louis NAACP during the 1970s, Rev. Doggett was a living legend of St. Louis Black history.

Born in 1918 in Philadelphia, Rev. Doggett studied at Lincoln University in Philadelphia. In 1930s-mid 40s he studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Doggett accepted a call to ministry on the West Coast and moved to San Francisco in 1945, where he started Southgate Community Church, a small storefront in an African-American neighborhood known as Hunter’s Point. In 1946, he co-founded Downs Methodist Church before moving to Southern California and became pastor of Scott Methodist Church in Pasedena.

As the Civil Rights Movement took root between 1949-53 in Southern California, Rev. Doggett and Scott Methodist Church presented the legendary African-American singer, Roland Hayes who, like Paul Robeson was a strong advocate for social and civil rights for Blacks in the late 1940s-1950s. Rev. Doggett and his first wife, Frances, worked tirelessly with African Americans in Pasedena to create a movement for integration and job opportunities in the conservative, predominantly white city.

During 1950s through the mid 1960s that Dr. Doggett distinguished himself in Los Angeles as a leading religious and civil leader. He worked with the Los Angeles NAACP and The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and became the Treasurer of The Western Christian Leadership Conference in the late 1950s. In 1961, Rev. Doggett chaired two of the most important Civil Rights Movement events in Los Angeles at that time: The Freedom Rallies in April and June 1961 for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The rallies and fundraisers helped the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in its missions with The Freedom Riders and Sit Ins of 1961-62. Rev. Doggett was very proud of his contributions to The Freedom Rider Movement, which the nation is commemorating the 50th anniversary this year.

Already immersed in the Civil Rights Movement, Rev. Doggett came to St. Louis in the summer of 1964 from Los Angeles, bringing to St. Louis an exciting and deep history of religious and civic activism. In St. Louis, he became active with various aspects of St. Louis civic life. He was President of the St. Louis NAACP. Rev. Doggett was Parliamentarian for the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition and was respected for his great wisdom and humanitarian valor by all clergy and friends throughout the St. Louis Metropolitan and Metro East areas. Rev. Doggett was also Chairman of Central Medical Center, former board member of The Missouri Historical Society and devoted member of the St. Louis chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

His wife, the late Juanita Doggett, was a fixture for three decades in St. Louis civic and educational leadership. She served for many years as a devoted educator and principal at Sherman School. Mrs. Doggett was also known in St Louis educational and civic circles as a relentless advocate for the St. Louis Chapter of the NAACP.

The Rev. Dr. John Doggett is survived by three sons, William Ballard Doggett II of San Francisco California, John Nelson Doggett III (Haiping Tang) of Austin, Texas and Kenneth Riddick of St. Louis; a daughter Lorraine Doggett Melton (Curt) of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a grandson, Deevino Williams of St. Louis.