Originally published in Born to Preach: Essays in Honor of the Ministry of Henry & Ella Mitchell, Samuel K. Roberts, ed. (Judson Press, 2000), 113–33.

Alison P. Gise Johnson proposes a new methodology for examining the scope and contributions of female preachers who have often been relegated to curiosities. Using a womanist hermeneutic, she gleans insights from the lives and sermons of the preachers themselves. By examining Sarah Potter Smith and Florence Spearing Randolph, she uncovers what women preachers of the past were truly passionate about and the ways in which they influenced the female preachers to generations to come. 

Alison P. Gise Johnson, PhD candidate, is assistant professor of theology and ethics at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. Her research and teaching interests are in the area of African American womanist hermeneutics.