1. Thea Bowman became an evangelist among her people, assisted in the production of an African-American Catholic hymnal, and was a popular speaker on faith and spirituality in her final years, in addition to recording music.
20 Facts About Thea Bowman
1. 2.
Thea Bowman helped found the National Black Sisters' Conference to provide support for African-American women in Catholic religious life.
3.
Thea Bowman's paternal grandfather had been born a slave, but her father was a physician and her mother a teacher.
4.
Thea Bowman was raised in a Methodist home but, with her parents' permission, converted to the Catholic faith at the age of nine.
5.
Thea Bowman became the first African-American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at La Crosse, Wisconsin at age 15, overcoming her parents' objections.
6.
Thea Bowman remained active in the group throughout her life.
7.
Thea Bowman taught at an elementary school in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and then at Holy Child Jesus Catholic School, her alma mater.
8.
Thea Bowman later taught at her other alma mater, Viterbo College in La Crosse and the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, as well as at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.
9.
Thea Bowman became instrumental in the 1987 publication of a new Catholic hymnal, Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal, the first such work directed to the Black community.
10.
Thea Bowman was actively involved in selecting hymns to be included.
11.
Thea Bowman then became more directly involved with ministry to her fellow African-Americans.
12.
Thea Bowman began to give inspirational talks to Black congregations and found a tremendous response by the people to whom she spoke.
13.
Thea Bowman brought her "ministry of joy" to far-ranging audiences, from Nigeria and Kenya to Canada, from the Virgin Islands to Hawaii, New York, and California.
14.
Thea Bowman called on Catholics to celebrate their differences and to retain their cultures, but to reflect their joy at being one in Christ, a joy which her audiences found her exhibiting to a remarkable degree, including with those of other faiths.
15.
Sister Thea Bowman awakened a sense of fellowship in people both within and well beyond the Catholic world, first and foremost through her charismatic presence.
16.
Thea Bowman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984, after which she began rigorous treatments but maintained a robust speaking schedule.
17.
Thea Bowman became a household name in mainstream media, appearing on national news outlets and even being filmed for a documentary on her life after a terminal diagnosis.
18.
When she finished they stood linking arms and singing as Thea Bowman led them in the spiritual, 'We Shall Overcome'.
19.
Thea Bowman died on March 30,1990, aged 52, in Canton, Mississippi, and was buried with her parents in Memphis, Tennessee.
20.
At the inaugural event of the legacy day, the keynote speaker mentioned how Thea Bowman had stressed the importance of education for Blacks, and how she had legitimized a distinct form of worship for Black Catholics.