Black Women’s Christian Activism: Seeking Social Justice in a Northern Suburb
March 12 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Women played an important role in the development of suburban communities and the Christian churches those communities revolved around during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet, their contributions remain hidden. In honor of Women’s History Month, please join us as scholar and retired professor Dr. Betty Livingston Adams shares the heroic and inspiring story of how Violet Johnson, a former domestic servant, was able to challenge the established racial and social norms in Summit, New Jersey through her activism and religious faith.
Dr. Betty Livingston Adams is an independent scholar, author, and former university professor. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (with distinction) and the Master of Philosophy degrees from Yale University and the Master of Divinity (Summa Cum Laude) degree from Drew University, Madison, NJ. Dr. Adams is the recipient of numerous academic honors and fellowships, including Global Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University and Fellow at the Yale Initiative on Material and Visual Culture of Religion. Her scholarship and teaching explore nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and African American religious and social history through the lens of gender, race, and class. Her book, the topic of this talk, received the 2017 Wilbur Award for excellence in communicating “religious issues, values, and themes with professionalism, fairness and honesty”; the 2018 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Author Award for scholarly excellence; and the 2020 Drew University Bela Kornitzer Prize for Outstanding Nonfiction Book.
This program is presented on ZOOM by the New Jersey State Library.
