Black Baptist feminists built their claims on biblical women like Deborah and Huldah
Evidence
Again, the Baptist women found biblical precedents to bolster their convictions and to inspire the women of their own day. Cook and Broughton pointed to the biblical woman Huldah, wife of Shallum. Huldah studied the law and interpreted the Word of God to priests and others who sought her knowledge. In the Book of Judges another married woman, Deborah, became a judge, prophet, and warrior whom God appointed to lead Israel against its enemies. Depicting Deborah as a woman with a spirit independent of her husband, Cook asserted: “Her work was distinct from her husband who, it seems, took no part whatever in the work of God while Deborah was inspired by the Eternal expressly to do His will and to testify to her countrymen that He recognizes in His followers neither male nor female, heeding neither the ‘weakness’ of one, nor the strength of the other, but strictly calling those who are perfect at heart and willing to do his bidding.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 623
Categorization
- XREF: Shows the exegetical method of ‘womanist’ reading — drawing liberating precedent from scripture rather than rejecting it — connecting to the politics-of-respectability theme of working within the church’s own frame. — connects to: Black Baptist women deployed biblical orthodoxy to claim gender equality — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 563; Black Baptist women invoked biblical heroines to justify denominational gender parity — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 594; Black Baptist feminist theologians exalted Mary to sanctify womanhood against its degradation — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 601 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Black Baptist feminists cited Deborah and Huldah to sanctify female public leadership
#expands(0.97) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 672 - Biblical women like Huldah and Deborah authorized black women’s public teaching roles.
#expands(0.92) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 623 - Biblical reinterpretation opened the public realm to black Baptist women.
#expands(0.87) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 596