Black women leaders contested the equation of church authority with ordination

Evidence

Black women were aware of their crucial role in building the denomination. Mamie Steward of the Kentucky women’s convention argued for a broader conception of church work than that performed by the ordained ministry. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 367

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Women’s Bible study armed them to judge preachers rather than to seek the pulpit. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 1253; Women exerted church power by judging ministerial literacy, not seeking ordination — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 352; Black Baptist women faced pulpit and voice denial even among supportive male leaders — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 340 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Male denominational leaders tried to subordinate autonomous black women’s organizations #corroborates (0.85) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 738
• The black church simultaneously united and divided men and women by gender #corroborates (0.80) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 702
• Black women needed a separate feminist intellectual tradition #expands (0.78)
• Women preachers hold precarious authority lacking institutional backing #qualifies (0.75)