One-Day Women's History Program: Florence Spearing Randolph: Unsung Black Heroine of the Cloth

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You will get only one chance to take part in this absolutely unique Women's History Month program: this Saturday morning, 11:00 a.m., at Wallace Chapel AMEZ Church in Summit.

Titled 'Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph: An Unsung Heroine of the Cloth,' the one-day program and exhibit will certainly help to restore the reputation of this remarkable woman -- who helped build Wallace Chapel -- and inspire a fresh generation with her message and the story of her struggles.

In 1897, at the age of 31, and at a time when it was unheard of, Florence Spearing Randolph was ordained an elder of the AME Zion church. Throughout the remainder of her long life, she preached a message of banding together to fight 'race prejudice, hate, oppression and injustice.'

But she was not only a preacher. Though she drew to Wallace Chapel a congregation that responded to her preaching, which often spoke out on behalf of the equality of women and against racial oppression, she was also an organizer who made a difference.

Randolph was an ardent member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, an interracial organization that not only fought against drink and drunkenness, but empowered women as a political force on the American scene as never before.

She was active in the New Jersey Federation Colored Women's Clubs, which united groups around the state to lobby for fair employment legislation and against restrictive real estate covenants, among other things.

Plainfielder Ethel Washington is curating the one-day exhibit of photographs and memorabilia of Randolph. Temple University historian Bettye Collier-Thomas will be the featured speaker of the day.

Collier-Thomas used the materials in a previous book 'Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons, 1850-1979,' and is now at work on a full-scale biography.

You will not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

'Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph: An Unsung Heroine of the Cloth'
Saturday, March 11, 11:00 a.m.
Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church
138 Broad Street
Summit, New Jersey
Information: (908) 277-0574

RESOURCES

"A powerful voice: From a Summit pulpit, she preached racial equality", a very fine article that appeared in the Star-Ledger of Friday, February 24, 2006.















"Daughters of Thunder : Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons, 1850-1979 [Amazon]", Bettye Collier-Thomas' book.















"Union County Black Americans [Amazon]", Ethel Washington's book, also available at Borders, Watchung Square Mall.

"American Methodists and the Politics of Race", the book on which Morris L. Davis. Jr., is currently working.