Jesse Edward Moorland was a black minister, community executive, and civic leader.

Born in Coldwater, Ohio

Coldwater, Ohio

Coldwater is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,482 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Coldwater is located at ....

, he was the only child of a farming family. Moorland attended Northwestern Normal University

Ohio Northern University

Ohio Northern University is a private, United Methodist Church-affiliated university located in the United States in Ada, Ohio, founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871. ONU is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ONU is a sister...

 in Ada, Ohio

Ada, Ohio

Ada is a village in Hardin County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,582 at the 2000 census. In 2006, the village's population was estimated at 5,841, and the 2010 census counted 5,952 people....

. Then he moved to Washington D. C., where he attended the Theological department of Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

 and earned his masters degree in 1891. He was ordained a Congressional minister. That same year he was hired as secretary of the Washington D. C. branch of the YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

.

Moorland devoted himself to black social organizations, such as the National Health Circle for Colored People, as important for building community strength. In 1914, Kelly Miller

Kelly Miller (scientist)

Kelly Miller was an African American mathematician, sociologist, essayist, newspaper columnist, author, and an important figure in the intellectual life of black America for close to half a century.-Career:...

, a leading African-American intellectual, persuaded Moorland to donate his large private library on blacks in Africa and in the United States as the foundation for a proposed "Negro-Americana Museum and Library" at Howard University. This collection formed the foundation of the Moorland–Spingarn Research Center. Together with historian Carter G. Woodson

Carter G. Woodson

Carter Godwin Woodson was an African-American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson was one of the first scholars to study African American history. A founder of Journal of Negro History , Dr...

, he co-founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History

Association for the Study of African American Life and History

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History is an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History. It is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 1915 and incorporated in Washington, D.C. on October 2, 1915 as...

 in 1915.

Moorland was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...

 fraternity.

Jesse Moorland died in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

at the age of 76.