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Focus
Page 5
Black Women Preachers in America
for a minister to pastor a church and
to ascend to other positions in a
religious organization’s hierarchy.
This was another level in women’s
struggle to preach.
I n the nineteenth century, most black
denominations were unwilling to
license women to preach, even as
local preachers, and w ith the
exception of the A ME Zion Church,
none were inclined to ordain them.
A few women were licensed to
preach, and the AME Zion Church
began ordaining women in 1895.
The AME Zion’s granting of elder’s
orders to a women - Mary Small -
thundered through the nation. I was
a watershed event in the struggle of
preaching women, black and white;
preaching women derived from
religious inspiration, particularly
their belief in the holiness doctrine
o f spiritual sactification.
To be sanctified was to be free from
sin. Sanctification was the result of
C h ristia n co m m itm en t after
conversion. Spiritual sanctification
meant that one could purify “one’s
inner disposition to willful sin, a
liberation o f the soul to follow the
indwelling voice o f Christ,” or the
Holy Spirit. Many preaching women
spoke freely about the Holy Spirit’s
power to remove all obstacles and
to speak through them . They
believed that the Holy Spirit
empowered them to act, think,
speak, and simply be.
Struggle for Ordination
Ordination provides authorization
onth
y Bettye Collier-Thomas
Black women who preach have not
been and still are not w idely
re c o g n iz e d
in
m ain stream
Christianity as the equals o f male
preachers. They have continued to
come forth and to pursue the prize -
the pulpit. In doing so, they have
been singular heroes and
powerful actors in the struggle for
black empowerment, especially the
empowerment o f black women.
H o lin ess T r a d itio n A m ong
African Americans
The holiness tradition played a
central part in the struggle ofwomen,
particularly black women, to preach.
Believing in holiness was the basic
so u rc e o f th e se w o m e n ’s
empowerment. It provided them
with a strategy to overcome the
barriers o f the C hurch, w hich
contended that the Bible does not
sa n c tio n w om en to p reach .
Preaching women who embraced
the holiness doctrine asserted that
they did not need the Church’s
sanction, because their ministry was
authorized by a power beyond the
Church, namely God, who spoke to
them through the Holy Spirit. The
feminist activism o f most o f the
February 23, 2000
Licensed as an evangelist and missionary in 1892, and ordained to the
diaconate in 1895, Mary' Small was ordained an elder o f the AME
Zion Church in 1898. She was the first woman, black or white, to
achieve this honor. Her elevation to this status precipitated a bitter
debate among male clergy, many o f whom questioned the propriety o f
granting such a status to a woman.
(Please see ‘Women’ page 8)
Next Tuesday!
Doris Café
Church
from page 4
“Before I’ll be slave, I’ll be buried
in my grave and go home to my
Father and be free.”
Even today, one sees many
examples of the Black Church’s
viability and importance within the
A frican-A m erican com m unity.
Leaders such as Jesse Jackson and
Louis Farrakhan are descendants o f
this Ju d eo -C h ristian tradition.
Andrew Young, former mayor o f
Atlanta, is an ordained minister.
Famous singers, Mary J. Blige,
Whitney Houston, and Johnny Gill
are products o f the Black Church,
just to cite a few examples.
Closer to home, churches
such as Irv in g to n C o v e n a n t,
Economic Investments; Emmanuel
Temple, Social Services; and Power
House Tem ple Church. Social
Services still provide much needed
resources and socially conscious
leadership to the communities they
serve. The Black Church remains
the bastion o f the Black identity in
America and continues to play a
crucial role in perpetuating African-
American interests.
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