In this post I will focus on a woman named Emma Cotton. She lived from 1877 - 1952. Emma was of Creole descent and was born in the State of Louisiana.
She first appeared in history during the Azusa Street Revival. She was the founder of the Azusa Temple as well as other Pentecostal churches across the United States, Her preaching and involvement in the Pentecostal circuit, as well as her friendship with famous evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson paved the way for women in leadership in the 1900s.
Emma was inspired by “the great awakening of the Spirit.” At the revival she stated that she was healed of weak lungs and cancer that was found in her nose.
Emma soon met her husband Henry C. Cotton, who worked as a railway cook on a run between Los Angelos and San Antonio. While Henry was away on work, Emma was available to participate in evangelistic work around California. Emma and her husband returned to Louisiana for a period before she was appointed Assistant State Mother of California for her church. Returning to California, Emma held a variety of church services all across the state. She held divine healing services at the Pentecostal Assembly in San Jose in 1916 followed by the establishment of multiple Pentecostal churches in Bakersfield, Fresno, and Oakland.
By 1920, Emma had stepped down from her role as Church Mother to become a full-time pastor for her own church, the Azusa Temple, in Los Angeles. Together, Emma and her husband co-pastored the church through the denomination The Church Of God In Christ (COGIC) but remained independent as a church due to COGIC’s decision to not ordain women. Today, the church is known as Crouch Memorial Church, named after one of Emma’s proteges, Samual Crouch. To this day the church is an active congregation affiliated with COGIC.
By April 1939, Emma had edited and published a paper called “The Inside Story of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit - Azusa Street- April 1906.” This paper included details of her eyewitness accounts of events surrounding the Azusa Street Revival as well as an emphasis on the role of women in the church. While many accounts focus on the prominence of men in leadership, Emma wrote about the importance of Lucy Farrow and Julia Hutchins in the success of the revival.
Emma’s bout of cancer returned in 1950 after nearly half a century of reprieve. She died in 1952.