SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Women's Day Talk, April 29, 1951 Woman's Day Talk.Shiloh Baptist Church, Sunday,April 29, '51 The first thing I want to do this evening is to thank those Church Leaders who a long time ago [for] set[ting] aside one Sunday a year and called [calling] it Woman's Day. And there is a very good reason why this should [be] have been done. Throughout the centuries the relationship existing between women and the church has been very close and very strong. Two of the greatest preachers the world has ever seen received valuable assistance from women. Both Jesus Christ and Paul numbered women among their most faithful followers while they were here in the flesh preaching redemption and repentance to a sin-cursed world. When Pontius Pilate pronounced the sentence by which the betrayed leader was delivered over the soldiers to be crucified there were ringing in his ears the words of a woman - the words of his wife saying [? him not to harm that just man] "Have thou nothing to do with that just man for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him". When the martyred son of God yielded up the Ghost upon the shameful cross there were none in that [large] vast crowd who witnessed this greatest tragedy of the ages with [greater] deeper sorrow and keener grief than did the women who had followed Jesus in such great numbers from Gallilee. Upon the women of no race have the truths of the Christian religion taken a firmer, deeper hold than upon the colored women of the United States. No one who knows how Christian ideals were planted in the minds and hearts of the race, and who knows even a little bit about the history of our church can fail to see what an important part our women have played in its development and growth. Considering the great amount of work our women - [all of them] have accomplished, among whom were many of our leaders, of course, we can not help regretting that the record of their work has been so poorly kept. But even from the meagre information obtained from newspaper clippings, [?] pamphlets, bits of chapters in books, from conversations with those who have worked longest in the church, it is clear that our women's contribution to the high position it occupies today has been valuable and large. [They] Women have helped to establish houses of worship all over the country. They have assisted in every kind and department of work in which the church has engaged and have raised large sums of money to support our churches. If [2] it were possible to ascertain the exact amount of money which colored women have raised through the medium of their various organizations in all the denominations, the total amount they have collected would astound, not to say shock, the world. This is particularly true when we remember that many of our church women are poor in this world's goods even though they are rich in possessing the spirit of Christ. Several years ago I tried to glean facts concerning the relation of [?] colored women to their churches. I sought information from as many and as varied sources as possible. The pastor of one of the largest churches in the country told me that at least two thirds of his members are women. And "I believe", he said, "you will find the membership of the women will outnumber that of the men in about the same proportion in other churches as [that] obtains in my own church." "Do our women contribute money for the support of the church as liberally as men?" I asked. "It has been my observation and experience", he replied, "that if one hundred [men] women are asked to contribute money for any purpose whatsoever connected with the church and one hundred men are asked to contribute for the same purpose, the women will usually give twice as much as the men." There was not a single minister with whom I talked or to whom I wrote who did not cheerfully admit that the women of his church had contributed more both to the material and to the spiritual welfare of his church than had the men. The ministers of all the [other] denominations bore practically the same testimony, both in reference to the preponderance in membership of the women over the men and with reference to the liberality of the women in support of the chuch in comparison with that of the men. And when one pastor [if] differed with another on any point, the difference was so slight as not materially to alter the balance one way or the other. In church work of all kinds the ministers testified that generally speaking the women usually bear the heat and burden of the day. The nucleus around which some of our largest and most useful churches have [been built] grown has been mainly composed of women, When the church is in debt 3 Owing to certain conditions which have generally obtained But I feel it is my duty frankly to confess that in the cities & towns in which we have lived we have failed thus far to do our civic duty as faithfully and as earnestly as I wish we had done! I am not saying this not in the attitude of one who is scolding another for failing to do what might have been done, but I mentioning this to express regret that we have made this mistake 3 or needs to be repaired, when the minister [needs] wants to take a much deserved vacation to rest, when a camp meeting is planned and the multitudes have to be fed, [thn] then in that hour of trouble and distress the eyes of the pastor and the [de] deacons and the janitor and every man member of the church are all fastened with one accord upon the women. The women are [usually] definitely expected to make the affair a brilliant success. And I am glad to say they usually do. I have heard people say [th] that women are the power behind the church throne. It must be admitted that, generally speaking, that statement is not an exaggeration of the facts. To me the strength of colored women in the church is one of the most hopeful signs of the future as it has been one of the greatest blessings in the past. Several years ago in a large western city, I visited an Institutional Church. And there I saw such an evidence of practical christianity as made my heart leap for joy. In an effort to save the youth of an especially depraved section, a reading room for boys well stocked with books and magazines to interest them was opened by the church. From the alleys reeking with disease and crime, from the vicious resorts leading them to ruin scores of boys came to avail themselves of the books magazines and comfort of this reading room provided by the church. Little poverty-stricken children from crime-breeding homes were here gathered into [homes] a kindergarten directed by capable, cultured young women whose very presence among those unfortunate children was an object lesson, an inspiration and a boon. Of course, it takes money to establish and support an Institutional Church. But there is no doubt that in a variety of ways the Institutional Church could become a power for good to our children, who, because of the conditions which confront them, need special efforts exerted in their behalf. I wish the women in our churches would take a deeper interest in our unfortunate women and girls than they do. There is no doubt that some of those erring women and girls would be glad to redeem their unsavory past if Christian women through the medium of the Church would hold out a helping hand and give them a chance. The great head of the Christian Church made our duty to erring women as plain as is our obligation to the innocent child. So long as we draw our skirts in scorn and contempt of erring sister [we depart from the teaching] 4 without attempting to guide her into the path of decency and virtue if there is the slightest reason to believe she can be reclaimed, so often do we depart from the example and teaching of Christ. [Nothing should be considered common or unclean by the women of the church if by attacking it or trying to correct it they are able both to promote the interests of our race and raising the standard of living to a higher plane.] Well do I know that many insist that such work does not properly belong to the women of the church. They are much wiser than I am and their reasons may seem logical and strong, but they do not convince me. From my point of view, so long as our church women are coldly neglectful of their tempted and erring sisters, so long will the moral progress of the race be retarded by those who could advance it most. Nothing should be considered common or unclean by the women of our churches , if by attacking it or trying to correct it. they are able both to promote the interests of our race and raise the standard of living to a higher plane. Finally,when one thinks of the numerical strength of our women in the church and the influence [they] we are able to exert though the medium of the church the responsibility resting upon us seems awesome and tremendous indeed. But how glorious is the opportunity possessed [It is most encouraging and gratifying to know that many of our women have gained and are still gaining the] by earnest,colored women who are eager to influence the masses of our people for good. through the medium of the church - Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.