How Can Our Faith Help Us To “Lift As We Climb”?
Sometimes faith means going against the grain. Sometimes courage means standing up to oppressors. Sometimes strength means lifting others up as you climb. She did it all, because for her, uplifting Black people was done always and in all ways.
“If they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.” – 1 Samuel 14:10.
In a time when it was unheard of for women, let alone Black women, to pursue higher education, Mary Church Terrell earned her master’s degree and became a teacher.
She believed in uplifting all Black people. She wanted her successes to open doors for her community.
When Terrell attended the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention in 1898, she grew frustrated with the ignorance of the white women in attendance, who insisted that they were more oppressed than Black women.
She stood and said, “As a colored woman, I hope this Association will include in the resolution the injustices of various kinds of which colored people are the victims.’”
In 1896 Terrell co-founded and served as president of the National Association of Colored Women. Its motto, “lifting as we climb,” reflected Terrell’s principles.
The Association held members accountable to lift each other up as they continued to succeed.
Terrell’s legacy reminds us that building strong Black communities means we are responsible for using our successes to support one another. How can our faith practices help us do this?
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