Black Baptist feminists blamed sexism, not Christianity, for blocking women’s development.

Evidence

Mary Cook explained the cultivation of the female intellect as Christ’s special mission to women and blamed sexism, not Christianity, for hindering women’s intellectual development. “Emancipate woman,” she demanded, “from the chains that now restrain her and who can estimate the part she will play in the work of the denomination.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 659

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Reframing sexism rather than scripture as the obstacle mirrors how accusations of ‘immodesty’ were pinned on cultural/class bias rather than on the dress itself in the immodesty article.
• XREF: connects to: Critics blamed church institutions, not Christianity itself, for women’s oppression. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 1391; Black Baptist women invoked biblical heroines to justify denominational gender parity — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 594; Black Baptist women deployed biblical orthodoxy to claim gender equality — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 563 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Critics blamed church institutions, not Christianity itself, for women’s oppression. #corroborates (0.95) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1391
• Black women rejected the movement’s execution, not feminism’s ideology. #corroborates (0.78) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 440
• Black Baptist women deployed biblical orthodoxy to claim gender equality #complicates (0.75) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 563
• Black Baptist women invoked biblical heroines to justify denominational gender parity #qualifies (0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 594