Thea Bowman
1937-1990 20th century
To bring to God all that one is, holding back nothing of one's history.
Who was Thea Bowman?
Daughter of the segregated Mississippi, she converted to Catholicism as a teenager and entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the only Black woman in her community. A teacher, singer, and speaker, she carried the memory and the song of Black America into the Church, refusing to be silenced. Stricken with cancer, she kept crossing the country in a wheelchair until her death.
In their own words
I bring myself, my black self, all that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to become.
I want to live until I die.
I want people to remember me as smiling. I want people to remember me caring about them no matter what happens to me.
Remember who you are and whose you are.