Sister Souurce Conversations – Eleven UU Women Writers
Interrogating the Gaze of Unitarian Universalist Women Writers (Watch the Video)
This 84-minute video session is an amazing beginning of a long overdue conversation among UU women writers. Participants included Rev. Qiyamah A. Rahman; Rev. Barbara Child; Rev. Marta I. Valentín; Yuri Yamamoto; Angeline Jackson; Rev. Denise Tracy; Atena O. Danner; Dr. Cynthia Grant Tucker; Rev. Dr. Kristen L. Harper; Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie; and Rev. Judith Campbell. This video was offered as a virtual workshop session (#629) at the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in late June 2023. (Speaker bios are listed below in alpha order by last name.)
Rev. Judith Campbell
is a Unitarian Universalist minister, a poet, political satirist and the author of the OLYMPIA BROWN and VIRIDIENNE GREENE MYSTERIES…and a whole bunch of other cool stuff too! www.judithcampbell-holymysteries.com • revdocmom@comcast.net
Rev. Barbara Child
Accredited Interim Minister, retired in 2010. She serves as consultant to Chalice Circles at the UU Church of Bloomington, IN, and leads a drop-in group on Zoom, “Writing as a Spiritual Practice.” With Keith Kron, she edited In the Interim: Strategies for Interim Ministers and Congregations. She also edited The Spirit That Moves: Readings and Rituals for Times of Change and Transition. revbchild@aol.com
The Rev. Dr. Kristen L. Harper
is the minister of the Unitarian Church of Barnstable in Massachusetts where she has served for over 20 years. She is the longest serving woman of color in one setting. Prior to coming to Barnstable, she served congregations in Ormond Beach, Florida, New York and Lansing, Michigan. Rev. Harper received her D.Min from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 1999 and is the author of The Darkness Divine: A Loving Challenge to My Faith. klharperuu@aol.com
Rev. Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman
is a Unitarian Universalist minister and Executive Director of Sister Souurce, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to the upliftment and resource development for Black UU women and girls (womxn, LGBTQIA+, and non-binary inclusive). She is author of The Rough Side of the Mountain: Black Women’s Ministries in UUism. revdocrok@gmail.com
Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie
is the Director of the Unitarian Universalist House of Studies at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and Minister at the North Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lewis Center, Ohio. She is author of Children of the Same God: Unitarianism in Historical Relationship to Judaism and Islam, and Dark and Stormy: Unitarian Theology in Gothic and Ghostly Literature 1789-1912. SRitchie@mtso.edu
Rev. Denise Tracy
was ordained in an all-woman ceremony at the 1974 UUA General Assembly. At the time she was the eighth woman employed in ministry. Since retiring from UU ministry she is collecting the stories of women ministers from the second wave of feminism. Her new book WomanSpirit: The Rise of Feminism in Liberal Religion is co-edited by the Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher and will be available Fall 2023. revmsddt@aol.com
Dr. Cynthia Grant Tucker
has said that her “real education” began after she earned a doctorate and started to teach at a university in the urban mid-south during an era of mounting social upheaval. Her academic focus settled in women’s biography to rectify history’s sins of erasure and give silenced stories a voice. The UU Women’s Federation has recognized her work with its Feminist Theology and Ministry to Women Awards. No Silent Witness received the UUA’s Frederick Melcher Award in 2011. cgtucker@memphis.edu
Rev. Marta I. Valentín
is the Professional Development Director in the Ministry and Faith Development staff group at the UUA. Her work has been included in ten Skinner House Books which also published her manual, A Long Time Blooming, the first by a sole BIPOC author. She was a Berry Street “Essayist” in 2017 with the longest poem she ever wrote and was the Sunday morning worship leader and preacher at the 2019 General Assembly in Spokane, Washington. MValentin@uua.org
Yuri Yamamoto
(they/she) is a chaplain endorsed by the Federation of Christian Ministries and is a candidate for the UU ministerial fellowship. Yuri invites the community into deeper reflections on identities, life issues, and relationships using their faith, stories, and creativity toward collective liberation. Yuri was instrumental in the publication of Unitarian Universalists of Color: Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love, and Faith. yuritakeyama@gmail.com