Daughters of Thunder. - book reviews

Daughters of Thunder is a wonderful compilation of thirty-eight first-time-published sermons of fourteen African American female preachers, many of whom were the first African American females to pastor churches, receive ordination, and be granted terminal degrees.

The author, Dr. Bettye Collier-Thomas, is the founding executive director of Washington, D.C.'s Bethune Museum Archives, Inc., the first institution in the country to focus on preserving and documenting the history of African American women. A historian and publisher of numerous articles in the areas of African American and African American women's history, Collier-Thomas also is currently an associate professor of history at Temple University, where she directs the Center for African American History and Culture. She has received several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Collier-Thomas's scholarly achievements are a testament to the thorough attention that she gives in her analysis and discussion of the sermons. Each is analyzed in light of the life experiences and theological orientation of the speaker, as well as within the context of the prevailing ideologies and social forces of the era in which each preacher lived.

Collier-Thomas's choice to draw the book's title from Shango, the West African god of lightening and thunder, was most befitting of the force and authority with which these women spoke to the social, political, and economic issues of their time. The sermonic messages of renowned and obscure figures such as Julia A.J. Foote, Harriet Baker, Mary J. Small, Florence Spearing Randolph, Mary G. Evans, Ella Eugene Whitfield, Ruth R. Dennis, Mrs. Raiff, Rosa Horn, Ida B. Robinson, Rosa Edwards, Quinceila Whitlow, F.E. Redwine, and Pauli Murray are included in the collection.

In her exploration of works by these ordained sisters, Collier-Thomas found that despite the writers' denominational differences -- African Methodist Episcopal (AME), AME Zion, Baptist, Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME), Holiness, Pentecostal, and Spiritual -- gender issues, holiness doctrine, moral and social issues, and theology were common themes addressed in many of the sermons.

Part one of Daughters of Thunder examines sermons that were delivered by Foote, Baker, and Small between 1851 and 1898. These early messages reflect the social forces -- such as overt racism, sexism, and economic disadvantages -- against which the authors struggled. It also highlights the family sacrifices that were often made to accommodate the pursuit of each preacher's calling.

The sermon writers also suggested that the advancement of the Black race could result from individual and collective inner and outer sanctification (holiness doctrine), and by attending to the development of a healthy self-image and concept of the African American female, who plays a primary role in the socialization of the family.

Part two of the book presents sermons that were delivered between 1900 and 1979 by Randolph, Evans, Whitfield, Dennis, Raiff, Horn, Robinson, Edwards, Whitlow, Redwine, and Murray. The foci of these sermons reflect many of the social and political changes that were occurring in this country at the time and examine the impact these changes had upon Black male preachers' perceptions of and receptivity to the callings of female preachers.

The author's epilogue acknowledges the advancements that have been made in the areas of female mobility within the clergical ranks and the ultimate ordination of several women across denominational lines. Citing U.S. Census and data from the Association of Theological Schools she also posits that:

1) overall within the more accepted African American denominations, change in the area of women's roles within the ministry has been slow;

2) Black women are still more likely to occupy associate or assistant ministerial positions with few opportunities for upward mobility and, as in earlier times, are more likely to occupy positions as missionaries, evangelists, and exhorters; and

3) the centuries-old racism, sexism, and negative attitudes to which this group has been subjected are still prevalent.

Daughters of Thunder is highly suitable as a course text or as a resource for scholars. It is a must read for those concerned with issues of empowerment among African American women, issues regarding women's mobility within the ministry, and for those who want a broader understanding of the overall history and significant issues of African American women.

Dr. Sharon E. Moore is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pa.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Cox, Matthews & Associates
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