Miniard Culpepper, EHS ’71: Activist Trailblazer

Alumni Spotlight

Miniard Culpepper, ’71: Activist Trailblazer

“I have never lost this spirit of activism which has always guided me.”  

 

After a 27-year career with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Rev. Miniard Culpepper, ’71, retired in early 2022 as HUD’s regional counsel. In that post, he oversaw the agency’s attorneys and legal matters to enforce fair housing policies in New England.

But he’s not following the traditional retirement route. He’s serving as senior pastor at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Dorchester, and remains involved in several volunteer activities.

Culpepper earned his B. A. at Brandeis University and his law degree at Suffolk University Law School. He received his Master of Divinity degrees from Howard University.

Culpepper reminisces about the things that helped to shape his life: “I grew up on Seaver Street in Roxbury with my grandparents, mom and dad in a family driven by faith, community, and direct action for civil rights. My grandparents were the first Black couple to own and live in a house on our street. As long as I can remember, they were trailblazers – and that spirit was passed down from them to my parents, and onto me.

I remember my first job, cutting the lawn outside the Pleasant Hill Church my grandfather founded, and I now preach at. The church was my home, my first place of learning in life, and helped build the faith I carry with me today. Here, I witnessed my grandparents and my parents plan NAACP rallies, protests, marches and demonstrations in the name of equality and civil rights here in Boston – and soon I too joined them in this work. Throughout my time at English high school and college at Brandeis, I continued to organize to fight against segregation in my high school and in college.”

Culpepper’s office is adorned with mementoes from his career: HUD Volunteer of the Year Award, Hammer Award from former Vice President Al Gore, and a letter of thanks from former President Barack Obama.

He earned a reputation for his prominent voice in civic life, including advocating for youth opportunity programs to help curb violence and as a proponent for COVID vaccine equity. His church grows food in its garden to give away to those who need it. He worked on presidential campaigns of Ted Kennedy in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1992. He prayed over Elizabeth Warren before debates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

In an interview, Culpepper underscored the important of addressing the root causes of housing insecurity and inequality. He’d like Boston to adopt rent control and the state should offer additional tax breaks for homeowners and first-time homebuyers. “Housing is the route to equalize folks’ lives,” he said.

“We’ve got a long way to go closing the wealth gap,” Culpepper said. “Owning a home allows you to have equity in the house, pay for children’s college tuition — all options renters don’t have available today.”

He also worries that the federal Section 8 program, which assists the very poor, needs reform; many families can’t scrape together enough to cover their expected rent contribution.

Culpepper tried to follow a  friend’s advice: To reach beyond HUD’s bureaucracy, beyond Pleasant Hill’s pulpit, to make a difference. My friend thought I needed to be out in the community, fighting for equalizing income inequality, housing, education, and youth violence. Now that I’m retired, I’ll have the time to be out in the community.”  He says, “I have never lost this spirit of activism which has always guided me.”