In 1987, the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the first Black woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), used the term “Womanist” to explore an interpretation of the Bible connected to Black women’s liberation. Her book that followed one year later, “Black Womanist Ethics,” helped launch the field of womanist ethics.
Multiple pandemics over the past two years, including Covid and efforts to bring about racial justice in U.S. communities — even among communities of faith — have benefited from a black light that highlights and helps clean up the messes that justice-seeking activists are asking the church to work on.
The Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon “would have been appalled” by the heartfelt and spirited salute she received Saturday by about 80 people gathered at Second Presbyterian Church in Louisville, according to the Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown.