• "...to bring good news to the poor... proclaim release to the captives... let the oppressed go free..."
  • (Luke 4:18-19)
  • RESOURCES:

    Black History Month 2021


    February is Black History Month! American Baptist Women’s Ministries invites you to join us to celebrate, honor, and reflect on the many contributions African American women have made! Visit this webpage daily to join us in recognizing women.

    Honor a loved one or a woman who has helped sharpen you by giving a gift to American Baptist Women’s Ministries’ 70th birthday celebration. Give a gift or more to share her story (up to 100 characters) in the next issues of Leaders’ Reader. Click here to give now.


    February 28, 2021
    Rev. Angel Sullivan, 2015-2018 ABWM National President, is an American Baptist-endorsed board certified chaplain, serving as a Staff Chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital-Bay Care Health Systems, in Tampa, Florida. She grew up in Rochester, New York, earning a college degree in Communication/Visual Communication (1995), followed by a Master of Divinity from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (2004). For one year during her seminary experience she served as AB Women's Ministries intern, helping the board to learn about issues important to young women. From 2012-2015 she served as an adult member of the AB GIRLS National Leadership Team, and she led ABWM’s “Transformed by the Spirit” Action Learning Team, which addressed ABWM’s challenge to engage younger generations of women in its ministries.


    February 27, 2021
    Marcia Fudge
    (1952-)

    Marcia Louise Fudge is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district since 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she won the 2008 special election uncontested, succeeding Stephanie Tubbs Jones who died in office. Fudge was chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in the 113th Congress. President Joe Biden has nominated Fudge as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for the Biden administration.


    February 26, 2021
    Opal Tometi 
    (1984-)
     
    Opal Tometi is an American human rights activist, writer, strategist, and community organizer. She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM). She is the former Executive Director of the United States’ first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).
         With BLM, Tometi aims to bring attention to the racial inequities faced by black people. She started as an active community organizer in her hometown advocating for human rights issues. She has campaigned for advancing human rights, migrant rights, and racial justice worldwide. She also worked as a case manager for survivors of domestic violence.


    February 25, 2021
    Michelle Obama
    (1964-)

    Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American writer, lawyer, and university administrator who was First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama, and was the first African-American First Lady.
         Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In her early legal career, she worked at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met Barack Obama. She subsequently worked in non-profits and as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Michelle married Barack in 1992 and they have two daughters.
         Obama campaigned for her husband's presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She returned to speak for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, she delivered a speech in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady.
    As First Lady, Obama served as a role model for women, and worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating. She supported American designers and was considered a fashion icon.


    February 24, 2021
    Rev. LaThelma Yenn-Batah   

    Reverend LaThelma A. Yenn-Batah, ordained in 2018, is the associate executive director of American Baptist Women's Ministries and a minister of the Gospel and a faithful disciple of Jesus the Christ. As a post-graduate Parish Pulpit Fellow through Princeton Theological Seminary, LaThelma participated in extensive cross-cultural and urban ministry in Costa Rica. While there, she studied Spanish and lived as an on-campus resident at the Latin American Biblical University. During her fellowship, she was deeply inspired by women who used their educational, biblical, and theological experiences to achieve the following goals: to understand and assume their personal and legal rights, to take leadership roles in their churches and communities, and to continue or begin their formal education.
         Prior to the Parish Pulpit Fellowship, LaThelma served as the Minister of Worship and Music at NextGen Church, a multi-cultural church in West Windsor, NJ. In addition, she served as the Assistant Director of Capital City Academy, an after-school outreach ministry in Trenton, NJ. Through hands-on experiential learning, leadership training, and mentorship, she worked to enhance the academic performance and promote the socio-emotional growth of students. LaThelma has also had the unique opportunity of leading ministry in churches in South Korea, Nicaragua, Philadelphia, PA, and Newark, NJ. These rich multi-cultural and ecumenical experiences have cemented her passion for building intergenerational and intercultural communities committed to social transformation. As the associate executive director of ABWM, LaThelma is excited to continue the work of affirming the Imago Dei of all women and journeying with them down a pathway towards self-actualization that will empower them to become agents of change.
         LaThelma graduated cum laude with a BA in Sociology and Africana studies from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. She earned her Master of Divinity and Master of Christian Education and Formation from Princeton Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Aaron E. Gast Award in Urban Ministry and The David Allen Weadon Award in Sacred Music. In addition, she earned certificates in Theology, Women, and Gender and Black Church Studies.


    February 23, 2021
    Rev. Veronica ‘Ronny’ Lanier 
    (1918-2014)
     
    Rev. Veronica “Ronny” Lanier was a pioneering African American mission leader and educator in American Baptist Churches.
    Lanier grew up in Medford, MA, graduating from high school in 1936. An active student at Gordon College, she earned a degree in Christian Education in 1954. She then went to Brooks House of Christian Service in Indiana and was commissioned a missionary to work with disadvantaged children in 1957 by American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
         She served the next seven years at Christian centers in Denver, Sacramento, and Chicago. In 1965, Lanier joined the staff of American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts (TABCOM) as Field Director for Christian Education, a post she held for 23 years. In 1969, she earned a Master of Religious Education degree from Andover Newton Theological School. She was ordained in 1970 at First Baptist Church, Medford.
    During her work with the Massachusetts Region, Lanier performed a wide variety of jobs. She spent six years on the chaplains committee, oversaw work involving a women’s organization and held director and president posts, involving herself in the Region’s Department of Community Witness and Youth Ministry. She served as Chaplain of McClain Hospital. In 1971 Lanier became Randolph Air Force Base Chaplain. That year she was reported to be one of only two African American ministers on the ABCUSA rolls and the only Black pastor in New England.
         Retiring in 1988, Lanier received honors and citations from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Newton, MA, Board of Aldermen, the local Human Rights Commission, Church Women United, and the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, among others. Lanier is one of only four recipients of Andover Newton Theological School’s Distinguished Ministry Award. She was also recipient of an honorary doctorate from the American Baptist Seminary of the West.
         In retirement, Lanier opened a mission house in Melrose, MA, was an interim pastor in several churches, and was named pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in Lynn, MA. She served for a time as pastor of the Baptist Church in Hyde Park, MA, as chaplain at Boston Children’s Hospital and also held the post of vice-president of TABCOM.


    February 22, 2021
    Barbara Jean Lee
    (1946-)
     
    Barbara Jean Lee is the U.S. Representative for California's 13th congressional district, serving since 1998; until 2013 the region was designated California's 9th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first woman to represent the 9th district and is also the first woman to represent the 13th district. Lee was the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and was the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Lee is notable as the only member of either chamber of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force following the September 11, 2001 attacks. This made her a hero among many in the anti-war movement. Lee has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and supports legislation creating a Department of Peace.


    February 21, 2021
    Lorraine Vivian Hansberry
    (1930-)

    Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago.





    February 20, 2021
    Ruby Bridges
    (1954-)

    Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. She is the subject of a 1964 painting, The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell.




    February 19, 2021
    Mae Jemison
    (1956-)

    Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she served as an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. After graduating medical school and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1985 until 1987. In 1987 her application to become an astronaut was accepted by NASA and on September 12, 1992 she was a mission specialist aboard STS-47. In 1993 she resigned from NASA and founded a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television several times, including as an actress in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer and holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities. She is the current principal of the 100 Year Starship organization.


    February 18, 2021
    Patrisse Cullors
    (1983-)

    Patrisse Cullors is an American artist and activist and a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. Cullors created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in 2013 and has written and spoken widely about the movement. Other topics on which Cullors advocates include prison abolition in Los Angeles and LGBTQ rights. Cullors integrates ideas from critical theory, as well as social movements around the world, in her activism. She is the author of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.


    February 17, 2021
    Keisha Lance Bottoms
    (1970-)

    Keisha Lance Bottoms is an American politician and lawyer who is the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. She was elected mayor in 2017. Before becoming mayor, she was a member of the Atlanta City Council, representing part of Southwest Atlanta. President Joe Biden nominated Bottoms as vice chair of civic engagement and voter protection at the DNC for the 2021–2025 term.
     


    February 16, 2021
    Stacey Yvonne Abrams
    (1973-)

    Stacey Abrams is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives (2007-2017), serving as minority leader (2011-2017). A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. Her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–21 U.S. Senate election and special election, which gave Democrats control over the Senate.
         Abrams was the Democratic nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, becoming the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. She lost to Brian Kemp in an election marked by accusations that Kemp engaged in voter suppression. In February 2019, Abrams became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address.


    February 15, 2021
    Ella Pearson Mitchell
    (1917-2008)

    Known as the “dean of black women preachers in America,” Ella Pearson Mitchell  advocated tirelessly for women who showed a gift for preaching. Ebony magazine named her one of the top 15 black women preachers in America in 1997.
         She began her teaching career at what is now known as American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, Calif.; was an associate professor of Christian Education and director of Continuing Education at Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta; and was first woman dean of Sisters Chapel at Spelman College, Atlanta.
         She and her husband, Dr. Henry H. Mitchell, were instrumental in re-establishing “team preaching.” Together they founded the Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies in Los Angeles and served as co-mentors in the Doctor of Ministry program at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.
    For Judson Press, Mitchell edited “Women: To Preach or Not to Preach: 21 Outstanding Black Preachers Say Yes!” and the five-volume “Those Preaching Women” series. She and her husband penned their autobiography, “Together for Good: Lessons from Fifty-five Years of Marriage” (Judson Press, 2005).


    February 14, 2021
    Shirley Chisholm
    (1924-2005)

    Shirley Anita Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.


    February 13, 2021
    Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
    (1938- )

    Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia and the first female president in Africa, made huge strides for her nation. Her political stance is greatly pro-women and anti-corruption, earning her a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in 2017. She was later elected as president in 2005 and then re-elected in 2011. It is her belief, women often suffer most when wars and conflicts erupt. At the same time, their opportunity to influence events during conflicts is often severely limited. Women's rights and full participation in democratic processes are important to ensure lasting peace. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has four children.


    February 12, 2021
    Nikki Giovani
    (1943-)
     
    Born Yolanda Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1960, she entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she worked with the school’s Writer’s Workshop and edited the literary magazine. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967, she organized the Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati before entering graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Giovanni is the author of numerous children books and poetry collections. Her honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1970, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Dedication and Commitment to Service in 2009, three NAACP Image Awards for Literature in 1998, the Langston Hughes award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters in 1996, as well as more than twenty honorary degrees from national colleges and universities.


    February 11, 2021
    Dr. Carla Hayden         
    (1952-)

    Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016. Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama on February 24, 2016, and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 13.
         Prior to her latest post she served, since 1993, as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. Hayden was nominated by President Obama to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board in January 2010 and was confirmed to that post by the Senate in June 2010. Prior to joining the Pratt Library, Hayden was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993. She was an assistant professor for Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1987 to 1991. Hayden was library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago from 1982 to 1987. She began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator from 1979 to 1982 and as a library associate and children’s librarian from 1973 to 1979.
         Hayden was president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling. Hayden received a B.A. from Roosevelt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.


    February 10, 2021
    Mellody Hobson
    (1969- )
     
    She is an American businesswoman who is the president of Ariel Investments and the current Chair of the Board of Directors of DreamWorks Animation. In 2017, she became the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago. Hobson was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Ogden Elementary School and later was educated at St. Ignatius College Prep high school, and subsequently attended the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Soon after her graduation from Princeton, Hobson joined Ariel Investments as an intern and rose to become the firm's senior vice president and director of marketing. In 2000, she ascended to become the president of Ariel, a Chicago investment firm that manages over $10 billion in assets.  It is also one of the largest African American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States.


    February 9, 2021
    Amanda Gorman
    (1998-)

    Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.
         Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. Now her words have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others. Amanda has performed multiple commissioned poems for CBS This Morning and she has spoken at events and venues across the country, including the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center. She has received a Genius Grant from OZY Media, as well as recognition from Scholastic Inc., YoungArts, the Glamour magazine College Women of the Year Awards, and the Webby Awards. She has written for the New York Times newsletter The Edit and penned the manifesto for Nike's 2020 Black History Month campaign. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.


    February 8, 2021
    Gabrielle "Gabby" Goodwin

    Gabrielle "Gabby" Goodwin is a 13-year-old CEO who created the first patented double-face, double-snap barrette known as GaBBY Bows with her mom. Through her business, she’s gained a lot of attention and success, including being named the 2018 Black Enterprise Teenpreneur of the Year.







    February 7, 2021
    Jarena Lee
    (1783-1864)
     
    Minister Jarena Lee was the first authorized female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. Lee, whose family or maiden name is unknown, was born to a poor but free black family on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey. In 1790 at the age of seven, Lee was sent to work as a live-in servant for a white family named Sharp. Lee moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a teenager and continued to work as a domestic servant. One afternoon, Lee attended a worship service at Bethel Church where Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the A.M.E. Church, was scheduled to preach. After hearing the powerful sermon delivered by Allen, Lee became filled with the Holy Spirit and converted to Christianity. 
    In 1819 during a worship service at Bethel Church, a guest preacher began struggling with his message and abruptly stopped preaching. As he stared into the congregation at a loss for words, Lee sprang to her feet and began preaching, picking up where the minister had left off. After Lee’s sermon, she was afraid that Bishop Allen would punish her for preaching without permission. On the contrary, Allen was so impressed by Lee that he officially gave her authorization to preach the Gospel. Allen asserted that God had called Lee to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Shortly thereafter, Lee began to travel to various cities for preaching engagements and was highly praised for her powerful sermons. In addition to her work in ministry, Lee was also heavily involved in the abolitionist movement and joined the American Antislavery Society in 1839. To share her experiences in ministry, Lee decided to pen her autobiography titled The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee. She completed her autobiography in expanded form in 1849.


    February 6, 2021
    Rev. Dr. Gina Jacobs-Strain
    Reverend Dr. Gina C. Jacobs-Strain loves the Lord and gave her life to Christ when she was in elementary school. She presently serves as the executive director for American Baptist Women’s Ministries (ABWM) and is a member of the National Executive Council for American Baptist Churches, USA. American Baptist Women’s Ministries is a Christ-centered ministry which encourages and empowers women, young women, and girls to serve God. AB Women’s Ministries equips women, young women, and girls to lead in their churches, communities, and beyond, addressing immigration, cross cultural relationships, intergenerational mentoring, economic empowerment, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.
         Rev. Dr. Gina served as the Transitional Pastor for First Baptist Church of New Market in Piscataway, New Jersey; Interim Pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey; Associate Regional Pastor for Women in Ministry for American Baptist Churches of New Jersey (ABCNJ); and is an Associate Minister of Christian Education at St. Paul Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey.
         In her role as teacher, Gina especially enjoys facilitating and inspiring Christian educators to share the Word of God in collaborative and interactive studies, helping teacher and student discover immediate application of the God’s word to their everyday lives. Rev. Jacobs-Strain has served as a guest preacher/lecturer at Drew University Theological School, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, ABC-NJ Academy, and the Wellness Lounge Webcast. She contributed to the “Testify: ABC-NJ Devotional” book released in 2015. In 2016 she co-launched the Christian Education Workshop Series, “Leading Interactive and Engaging Bible Studies (L.I.B.S. TM)” at the ABCNJ annual Church Officers and Leaders Conference (COAL) and in 2017 created a conversation series, “The Intersection of Leadership and Healing.” She is deeply grateful for every opportunity to share the word of God and to be in fellowship with those who know and those who are seeking the witness of Jesus Christ’s redemptive love.
         Rev. Dr. Jacobs-Strain earned a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University and graduated from Drew University’s Theological School Magna Cum Laude with a Master of Divinity degree. She also received the Old Testament Studies Scholar Award from the Biblical Studies Department. In 2015 she received a Certificate of Excellence from Palmer Theological Seminary & ABC-NJ Academy, and graduated from the Nehemiah-Leadership Program in 2017. In May 2020, she earned a Doctor of Divinity from Duke University. She is married to Cliff Strain. They have three sons and reside in West Orange, NJ.
                 

    February 5, 2021
    Emma Hamilton
    Emma Hamilton, 1975-1979 ABWM National President, was always in a leadership position and known not only for her gifts, but for her graciousness and sensitivity to the needs and potential of others. Married to William Hamilton, she began service in her local Cleveland, OH, church as president, then later as president of the ABW of Cleveland. She was quickly recognized as a leader by the national organization and served as chair of Love Gift, then vice president of Christian Service. For her denomination she served on the General Board and was appointed to the ABC Task Force on Women. Emma passed to life eternal in June, 2001.



    February 4, 2021
    Muriel Bowser
    (1972-)

    Muriel Bowser is committed to making sure every Washingtonian gets a fair shot in a growing and prosperous Washington, DC. Her administration is focused on making DC’s prosperity more inclusive, advancing DC values, and building safer, stronger, and healthier neighborhoods across DC’s eight wards.
         Washington, DC is unique in the American political system – the mayor, DC’s chief executive, functions as a governor, county executive, and mayor. Like governors, Mayor Bowser runs Medicaid, issues driver’s licenses, and has tax authority. Like county executives, Mayor Bowser runs the local jail, and, unlike most mayors, also oversees the public school system. In 2020, Washington, DC is home to 705,000 people across 68 square miles, has a AAA bond rating, and an annual budget of more than $15 billion.
         On November 6, 2018, Muriel Bowser became the first woman ever re-elected as the Mayor of Washington, DC and the first mayor to earn a second term in 16 years. Since taking office, the Mayor has taken bold steps to reset DC’s global and national competitiveness, speed up affordable housing production, diversify the DC economy, increase satisfaction in city services, and invest in programs and policies that allow more families to live and thrive in DC.
         Prior to becoming Mayor in 2015, Bowser served as the Ward 4 Councilmember on the Council of the District of Columbia – first elected in a special election in 2007 and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. As a Councilmember, she served as the Chairwoman of the Committee on Economic Development which created more than 5,000 units of affordable housing, passed legislation to build the new soccer stadium, and secured from the federal government the best portion of the Walter Reed campus for DC. She also led her colleagues to pass comprehensive ethics reform and increased transparency in government contracting.
         Mayor Bowser earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Chatham University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from American University, and received honorary doctorates from Chatham University and Trinity University. With more than 20 years of experience in local government, she first entered elected office as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in the Riggs Park neighborhood.


    February 3, 2021
    Della Reese
    (1931-2017)

    Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You Know?". In the late 1960s she hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 197 episodes. From 1975 she also starred in films, playing opposite Redd Foxx in Harlem Nights (1989), Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Elliott Gould in Expecting Mary (2010). Reese achieved continued success in the religious television drama Touched by an Angel (1994–2003), in which she played the leading role of Tess.


    February 2, 2021
    Alicia Garza
    (1981–)

    Alicia Garza is an American civil rights activist and writer known for co-founding the international Black Lives Matter movement. She has organized around the issues of health, student services and rights, rights for domestic workers, ending police brutality, anti-racism, and violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people of color. Her editorial writing has been published by The Guardian, The Nation, Rolling Stone, and Truthout. She currently directs Special Projects at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and is the Principal at the Black Futures Lab.


    February 1, 2021
    Kamala Harris
    (1964–)

    Kamala Harris is the vice president of the United States, making her the first female vice president and first Black person and Asian American to hold the position.

    She is a member of a Baptist Church in San Francisco. 

    After attending Howard University and the University of California's Hastings College of the Law, Kamala Harris embarked on a rise through the California legal system, emerging as state attorney general in 2010. Following the November 2016 elections, Harris became just the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. She declared her candidacy for the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019 but dropped out of the race before the end of the year. In August 2020, Joe Biden announced Harris as vice presidential running mate and after a close race, Biden and Harris were elected in November 2020.


    Po Box 851 · Valley Forge, PA · 19482-0851
    (610) 768-2288 · info@abwministries.org