Black women have long been the cornerstone of the Black church and the Black community. Black women have helped change the world in ways that benefit everyone. Black women have improved the world in ways we all know—Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, Harriet Tubman served as the conductor of the Underground Railroad, and Ida B. Wells served as one of the founders of the NAACP and led the anti-lynching movement. But also, they have served us in ways that are less known—the iconic phrase “I have a dream” that Dr. King popularized was borrowed from Prathia Hall. Marie van Brittan Brown helped invent the first home security system and Dorothy Height helped organize and execute the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Former president Barack Obama called Height “the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement.” She was eventually endowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and her image was immortalized on a United States postage stamp in 2017.
Black women have been some of the most steadfast voices in the Church and world moving us toward a more just and equitable society. Leaders like Ella Baker have pushed us toward a more egalitarian, group-centered leadership approach. Diane Nash demonstrated what it looks like to unflinchingly bear witness to one’s convictions in the face of imperial power. Fannie Lou Hamer prophetically bore witness to the truth that “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” While Black women are not always the first leaders we think of when we consider the Black Church or the Civil Rights Movement, they really should be. The truth is that neither exists without Black women!
Below you will find a list of imperative books written by Black women. As a Covenant family, we want to highlight two books written by our own pastors, Rev. Dieula Magalie Previlon and Rev. Georgia Hill.
Rev. Previlon’s forthcoming book, Does God See Me? How God Meets Us in the Center of Our Trauma-Healing Journey was recently highlighted by Publishers Weekly as one of the most anticipated forthcoming books. Rev. Previlon, founder and executive director of ElevateHer International Ministries, has a vision to empower women to heal from trauma and thrive. She is a counselor and life coach in private practice and an ordained Covenant minister. Her professional career in counseling, coaching, pastoring, and international ministry spans over 20 years, and she brings that experience to bear in her new book.
Pastor Georgia Hill is the founding pastor of LifeChurch Riverside, a Covenant church plant. Her book is called A Cloud of Women; The Powerful Connection between Black Women and Women of the Bible. Rev. Hill earned a JD from Howard University Law School, in addition to a doctor of ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary, and currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Wayne State University.
Five book recommendations for centering the voice of Black women this Black History Month:
- Does God See Me? How God Meets Us in the Center of Our Trauma-Healing Journey, by Dieula Previlon (Releases May 2024)
- A Cloud of Women: The Powerful Connection between Black Women and Women of the Bible, by Georgia Hill
- In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit, by Yolanda Pierce
- This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, by Cole Arthur Riley
- Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves, by Chanequa Walker-Barnes
This content originally appeared in Freedom Friday, a weekly email from the Love Mercy Do Justice mission priority of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
