[1] Reverend Vernon Nathaniel Dobson (October 29, 1923 – January 26, 2013)[2] was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist in Baltimore, Maryland.
Vernon Dobson, the son of Rev. Spencer Dobson and Mrs. Estelle Cook Dobson,[2] was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Booker T. Washington Middle School and graduated from Frederick Douglass Senior High School in 1941.[3] He attended Howard University and earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree.[2] He also studied at Harvard University. He had four brothers—Rev. Harold Dobson, Spencer G. Dobson, Jr., Irvin Dobson, and David C. Dobson—and one sister, Anne Dobson.[4] Rev. Vernon Dobson was married to his wife, Napoleon B. Dobson, for over 60 years. They have six children together.[5]
In 1958 Dobson was named assistant pastor of Union Baptist Church in Baltimore. He became the pastor of Union Baptist Church in 1963, and served in that role for 39 years.[6] His predecessor, Rev. Harvey Johnson, was present at the founding of the Niagara Movement and of the NAACP.[7] Dobson was twice elected the president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance in Baltimore.[2]
In 1963 Dobson was one of the many community activists who attempted to integrate Gwynn Oak Amusement Park.[8] In 1998, The Baltimore Sun published for the first time the names of all the people arrested during the protests, and Dobson's name was found on the list.[5] Their demonstration against the park was organized by the Congress of Racial Equality. Dobson was a member of the self-titled "Goon Squad," a group of Baltimore-based ministers and lawyers who advocated for civil rights. In 1967 they sought the reinstatement of Joseph C. Howard Sr., a prosecutor who had exposed Baltimore's unequal treatment of rape victims based on their race.[9]
In 1968 Dobson founded the Union Baptist Church Head Start Program.[10] He was one of the founders of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) in 1977.[2] [11]
Reverend Dobson worked with many of the legendary civil rights activists of Baltimore, including Walter P. Carter, Parren J. Mitchell, Rev. Marion Bascom[12] of Douglass Memorial Community Church, Sampson "Sam" Green, Rev. Wendell H. Phillips of Heritage United Church of Christ,[13] Chester Wickwire, and Samuel T. Daniels, Sr. of the Prince Hall Masons.[14] [15]
Dobson's brother, Rev. Harold Dobson, was the first president of Baltimore's branch of Opportunities Industrialization Center, (OIC).[16] OIC was founded in Philadelphia by Rev. Leon Sullivan.
Dobson was the co-host of Look At It This Way, a community affairs television show on WBAL-TV in Baltimore. Co-hosts included Samuel Thornton Daniels, Sr. and Homer Favor.[17]