Olympia Brown Opened Doors for Women

My MIT list (Most Important Tasks) is topped today by: Prepare for Olympia Brown talk. She is a woman I had not heard of until I joined the Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalists in Auburn. I had visited Unitarian churches over the years but judged them to be too intellectual for my tastes. I stumbled onto this church almost by accident and from the beginning I have been connected with both my head and my heart. We adhere to no creeds but there are seven principles we affirm and promote. The two that speak to me the most are: the inherent worth and dignity of every person and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

We have a part-time minister so we have guest speakers and members of the community present sermons twice a month. In February, John & I will be offering an imagined interview between Bill Moyers and Olympia Brown. She was one of the first women ministers, ordained in 1863. She also became a voice of the women's suffrage movement, speaking often with Susan B. Anthony. Her devotion to her ministry kept her from being one of the most well-known women's rights workers. On Nov. 2, 1920, Olympia Brown, at the age of 85, was among the first women to cast a ballot, after fighting for that right for 60 years. She was an amazing woman who opened many doors for women because she refused to give up.

Here are some words from her final sermon, delivered just before she was able to vote for the first time.

The opening doors lead to no dark dungeons, open upon no burning lake, give no evidence of everlasting punishment. But all gladden us with assurances of Divine Goodness and indicate the final triumph of the good ... Not only by the researches of science are we shown the glories of creation but the scenes of beauty which daily greet our eyes, the song of birds, fragrance of flowers, the moonlight shining on the waves all tell the same story of divine love.