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Featured Article: "Hochstedler, Eli (1942-1975)"
Eli Hochstedler, 1 September 1966. Photo: Courtesy of Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen, Indiana).
Eli Hochstedler: activist and Paxman; born 29 December 1942 near Kokomo, Indiana to Milo Hochstedler and Mary Miller Hochstedler. He was the oldest of six children in a family of five sons and one daughter. In 1972 he married Ruth Reber. Eli died 20 April 1975 in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Eli’s parents were Amish and became Mennonite when Eli was born. His family moved to Brown County when he was nine years old, where he received his education. His early education was completed at a small one-room school, which he attended up until seventh grade when he transferred to a 300-person school. Eli attended Nashville High School, and was very active in extracurriculars. These included editing the school newspaper, managing the yearbook, being the president of his school’s choir and Youth-for-Christ group, as well as participating in track and field and drama. He graduated from Nashville High School as valedictorian in the spring of 1961.
Eli attended Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana) from 1961 to 1965, studying chemistry and biology. During his junior year, he transferred to Tougaloo Southern Christian College in Mississippi as part of an exchange program between the two schools. At Tougaloo Eli gradually became more involved with the civil rights movement. In a brief autobiography, Eli stated that he “wanted to see the ‘closed society’ close at hand,” however his observation quickly led to his direct participation in the Civil Rights Movement after three peers at Tougaloo–Ida Hannah, Bettie Poole, and Julie Zaugg–were arrested at a pray-in. Eli also attended the pray-ins and was himself arrested on 16 April 1964 while trying to desegregate an event at the Jackson Municipal Auditorium. Eli was severely beaten by other inmates while in custody; he was released on bail after over four days.
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The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online provides reliable, freely-available English-language information on Anabaptist-related congregations, denominations, conferences, institutions and significant individuals, as well as historical and theological topics. Secular subject articles from an Anabaptist perspective and full-text source documents are also included.
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GAMEO falls under the umbrella of the Mennonite World Conference Faith and Life Commission. Members of the Management Board include: Mennonite Historical Society of Canada, Mennonite Church USA Archives,Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission, Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite World Conference, Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism, and the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation.