American Religion Timelines
Women and Religion - Events by Name
| Event | Introduction | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Alma Bridwell White Becomes First Female Bishop | In 1918, Alma Bridwell White (1862-1946) was consecrated bishop of a Holiness sect she founded, becoming the first woman bishop of a Christian church. | |
| Ann Lee Migrates to America | Ann Lee (1736-1784) brought a Christian sect known as the Shakers from England to the American colonies in 1774. | |
| Antoinette Brown Ordained by Congregationalists | In 1853, Antoinette Brown (1825-1921), a woman's rights activist and abolitionist, became the first woman to be ordained by a Mainline Protestant church. | |
| Barbara Harris Ordained as Anglican Bishop | The Right Rev. Barbara Harris (1930-present), an African-American Episcopalian, was consecrated the first female bishop in the Worldwide Anglican Communion in 1989. | |
| Catholic Worker Movement | In 1933, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement, a group of Catholic communities promoting social justice and hospitality toward the poor. | |
| Early Mormon Women Found Female Relief Society | In 1842, four Mormon women organized the Female Relief Society to aid the poor and help women grow in the church. | |
| Elisabeth Elliot Publishes Through Gates of Splendor | Elisabeth Elliot’s (1926-2015) book about the martyrdom of her husband and three other missionaries, Through Gates of Splendor (1957), is an evangelical classic. | |
| Ellen White Helps Found Seventh-day Adventists | In 1863, Ellen G. White (1827-1915), was instrumental in founding the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which worships on Saturday and believes Christ's return is imminent. | |
| Execution of Mary Dyer | On June 1, 1660, Mary Dyer (1611-1660), a friend of Anne Hutchinson, was executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her Quaker faith. | |
| Fanny Crosby Writes "Blessed Assurance" | Fanny Crosby’s "Blessed Assurance" (1873) became one of the most popular Christian hymns. | |
| Female Ordination Controversy in Methodist Episcopal Church | In 1880, Anna Howard Shaw and Anna Oliver both were denied ordination rights by the Methodist Episcopal Church, stirring tensions regarding female ordination. | |
| First Convent of Nuns in America | The first Catholic convent in America was founded in 1790 in Maryland by four contemplative Discalced Carmelite Nuns who came from a convent in Belgium. | |
| First Ordained Southern Baptist Woman, Addie Davis | In 1964, Addie Davis became the first woman ordained in a Southern Baptist church. | |
| Fox Sisters Contact a Spirit | America's Spiritualism movement, which believes spirits of the dead can communicate with the living through mediums, traces its roots to two young girls in 1848. | |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe Publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin | In 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1886) spread a powerful message that slavery was evil and Christian love could eradicate it. | |
| Lottie Moon Sent to China as a Southern Baptist Missionary | In 1873, Lottie Moon went to China as a Southern Baptist missionary at a time when sending unmarried women to the mission field was rare. | |
| Margaret Towner Ordained in PCUSA | Margaret Towner's ordination in 1956 was the culmination of a long struggle for gender equality in the Presbyterian Church USA. | |
| Marjorie Matthews Elected Bishop | Marjorie Matthews was elected bishop in the United Methodist church in 1980. She was the first female elected bishop of any mainline Christian church. | |
| Mary Evans Thorne Appointed Class Leader | Mary Evans Thorne is believed to be the first woman appointed as a class leader in American Methodism around 1770. | |
| Methodists Approve Full Ordination of Women | In 1956, the Methodist Church finally permitted the full ordination of women after years of resistance. | |
| Oblate Sisters of Providence Founded | The Oblate Sisters of Providence, founded in Baltimore, Md., in 1829, was the first Roman Catholic congregation founded by women of African descent. | |
| Olympia Brown Ordained By Universalist Church | In 1863, women's rights activist Olympia Brown (1835-1926) became the first woman to be ordained by the Universalist Church. | |
| Ordination of Ruby Knapp Bixby by the Free Will Baptists | In 1846, the Freewill Baptists ordained Ruby Knapp Bixby, making her the first licensed female Baptist preacher. | |
| Phoebe Palmer Writes The Way of Holiness | In 1843, Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) first published The Way of Holiness, an important evangelical classic outlining a "shorter way" to ecstatic union with God. | |
| Publication of Appeal to the Christian Women of the South | In 1836, Angelina Grimke published Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, which urged other southern Christian women to denounce slavery. | |
| Publication of Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery | Maria Monk's controversial Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery (1836) depicted illicit encounters between priests and nuns, rape, infanticide, and murder. | |
| Publication of Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee | Jarena Lee’s 1836 autobiography is one of the first extended life accounts of a black woman in America. | |
| Ququnok Patke Prophesies | Ququnok Patke (c.1790s-1837) was a Kootenai Indian whose prophecies in the early 1800s made her legendary throughout the Pacific Northwest. | |
| Rebecca Gratz Founds First Hebrew Sunday School | Under Rebecca Gratz's oversight, the first free Hebrew Sunday school opened in Philadelphia in 1838. | |
| Sally Priesand Becomes First Female Rabbi | On June 3, 1972, Sally Priesand became the first female rabbi ordained in America -- and the first woman in Judaism to earn seminary ordination. | |
| Sarah Dickson Becomes First Female Presbyterian Elder | On June 2, 1930, Sarah Dickson became the first female elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). | |
| Sojourner Truth's Methodist Conversion | In 1843, Sojourner Truth converted to Methodism and found her calling as an important social activist for blacks as well as women. | |
| The Trial of Margaret Meuse Clay | In 1770, local authorities trialed Margaret Meuse Clay for challenging the gender norms of colonial society and for preaching without a license. | |
| Trial of Anne Hutchinson | In 1637, Anne Hutchinson was put on trial in Massachusetts for promoting "free grace" theology and challenging colonial authorities. | |
| Ursuline Convent Riots | In 1834, an anti-Catholic mob burned down a convent and school run by Ursuline nuns in Charlestown, Mass. | |
| Wesleyan College | In 1836, Wesleyan College was founded in Macon, GA. It is the oldest college for women in the world. | |
| Woman's Christian Temperance Union | The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio, after a series of anti-alcohol protests by women. |
