The story never meant to be told: The suppressed history of African American religious women with Shannen Dee Williams (S3:E6)
“When confronted with the silenced past, the greatest responsibility of the historian—and the most radical thing any person can do—is to tell the story that was never meant to be told.”
Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, we learn about the missing history of Black Catholic sisters in the United States with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams–and why that history has been erased. Get to know the Venerable Mother Mary Lange, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Venerable Henriette Delille, the Sisters of the Holy Family, Sister Mary Antona Ebo and more on this episode of In Search Of. A transcript of this episode can be found here.
For further searching, check out these links:
- Visit Shannen Dee Williams’s website
- Get Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle
- Learn more about the Saintly Six. Or here.
- And for more information on Amy’s retreat, visit sagemountaininstitute.com
And don’t miss this related content from the Christian Century:
- “Why Black women are rising to lead top theology schools,” by Rebekah Barber (Nov 2023)
- “Encountering the sacred Black feminine,” Cassidy Hall interviews Christena Cleveland (July 2022)
- “I want to talk to Thomas Merton about race,” by Sophronia Scott (March 2021)
- “Why some young Black Christians are practicing hoodoo,” by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins (Jan 2021)
- “Wilton Gregory to become first Black American cardinal in Catholic Church,” by Elana Schor (Nov 2020)
- “Black women’s faith, black women’s flourishing,” by Eboni Marshall Turman (March 2019)
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