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News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

New Frontiers in Mission & the Legacy of Margaret Flory

January 20, 2021

Margaret Flory was a pioneer in mission work for the Presbyterian Church. Throughout her long career with the Board of Foreign Missions, she created several cross-cultural ecumenical programs for youth, believing that that “the American church has much to learn from the rest of the world.” One of these programs, Junior Year Abroad, was one of the first study abroad programs in the country and allowed students to serve in places such as China, Brazil, India, Ghana, and the Philippines.

I recently processed Flory’s collection of personal papers as Record Group...

Author:

Elizabeth Wittrig

Tags:

Mission History, Womens History, Margaret Flory, Ecumenism, Archival Processing

Perla Belo

January 19, 2021

Rev. Perla Belo, via diginitymemorial.com

Over the Christmas break we learned of the passing of Rev. Perla Dirige Belo, the first Asian American women ordained in the PC(USA). She was interviewed by Alice Brasfield in 1985 as part of a PHS series of interviews of ordained women. You can...

Author:

David S

Tags:

Womens History, Perla Belo

Chicago Women's Liberation Union at GA 1970

January 14, 2021

"As Christians, you expect women to serve the church. Women are the slaves of the church. Women raise money, serve as mistresses to some of you delegates at this convention--"

The speaker from the Chicago Women's Liberation Union was interrupted by noise among the delegates to the 182nd General Assembly. She went on, and was interrupted again.

"We arrange flowers, serve dinners, teach Sunday school, pour coffee, sing in the choir, and care for children while men attend conventions like this. If you will be quiet, I will continue. Your behavior is very...

Author:

David S

Tags:

General Assembly, Womens History

Tillie Paul Tamaree & the Tlingit Community

September 17, 2020

Recently, we highlighted elder Tillie Paul Tamaree for our #HistoricalFigureFriday series on social media. She was the first Native American woman elected as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Before her election as elder in 1930, Tillie Paul worked as a translator, civil rights advocate, and missionary educator within the Tlingit community in the Pacific Northwest.

The Tlingit are indigenous peoples of that region. Their language is the Tlingit language in which the name means "People of the Tides."

...

Author:

Sonia

Tags:

Native Americans, Womens History

Searching for Women's Suffrage

August 21, 2020

Source: National Museum of American History

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36^th state to ratify the 19^th Amendment, providing the three-fourths majority necessary to finally make women’s suffrage a reality after a seven-decade-long effort that began at the July 1848 Seneca Falls, New York women’s rights convention. In the days following Tennessee’s ratification, opponents of suffrage tried to rescind its...

Author:

Gabriela

Tags:

American History, Womens History