Listening to the ‘Sacred Voices’ of Black Women Preachers

It’s been a stubborn reality for women in the Black church: Men who are called to preach are readily accepted, but women struggle to have their call even acknowledged, much less get encouragement to preach their interpretation of the Gospel.

So in 2006, Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, then a teacher at Memphis Theological Seminary, created a course to elevate women in the Black church. It was such a hit that she took the course — “The Sacred Voices of Black Women” — condensed it to one week and took it to the Cathedral College of Preachers in Washington, D.C.

The course gave women seminarians historical and literary references to use in sermons while arming them with strategies to handle sexism in the church. It was so popular that attendees told Bridgeman it should be permanent — even if Br