EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; FLORENCE LUSCOMB P/92

 

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Florence Luscomb. She lived from 1887 - 1985.  She was among the first ten women to earn a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Women still experienced significant challenges during her tenure there. For example. Florence had to inquire at twelve firms before one of them would hire her for an internship after her second year.

She later continued her education in architecture at the newly opened Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in 1916.

Florence accepted a position as executive secretary for the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government. She went on to work for a number of organisations in the Boston area, including the Boston Chapters of the League of Women Voters, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and organisations dedicated to prison reform and factory safety. 

At a later stage, Florence advised some of the founders of the American feminist movement, encouraging them to include the poor and women of colour. 

In 1980, Florence moved into an elder-care facility in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she died in 1985, at age 98.  

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; FLORENCE LUSCOMB P/91

 

Today I will continue my series on Evangelical women who lived in the second half of 1800 and felt called to ministry despite the opposition of men, this time sharing the story of a woman named Florence Luscomb. She lived from 1887 - 1985. 

Florence was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. She was the daughter of Otis Luscomb and Hanna Skinner. Her father was an unsuccessful artist. Her mother was a dedicated suffragist and women's rights activist.  

When Florence was one and a half years old, her parents separated and she moved with her mother to Boston where she was able to attend a private secondary school, Chauncy Hall. 

As a child, Florence went with her mother to suffrage events, at one point seeing Susan B. Anthony speak. She became an ardent suffragist, initially by selling a pro-suffrage newspaper on the street. 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN KELLER P/90

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Helen Keller.She lived from 1880 - 1968. Even before Helen graduated, she published two books, The Story of My Life (1902) and Optimism (1903), which very much launched her career as a writer and a lecturer. She authored a dozen books and articles in major magazines, advocating for prevention of blindness in children and for other causes.

Helen began to support the suffrage movement and advocated for the blind. After Anne's death in 1936, Helen continued to lecture internationally with the support of other aides, and became one of the world's most admired women. During World War II, she toured military hospitals to bring comfort to soldiers.

In 1964, she was honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also received honorary doctorates from Glasgow, Harvard and the Temple Universities.

Helen died in 1968 at the age of 87. 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN KELLER P/89

 

In this post I will continue to share the story of Helen Keller. She lived from 1880 - 1968. Anne Sullivan, who had become Helen's teacher and mentor, used touch to teach Helen the alphabet and to make words by spelling them with her finger on Helen's palm. Within a few weeks Helen caught on. 

A year later, Anne brought Helen to the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, where she learned to read Braille and write with a specially made typewriter. Newspapers chronicled her progress. 

At fourteen, Helen went to New York for two years where she improved her speaking ability, and then returned to Massachusetts to attend the Cambridge School for Young Ladies. Helen was next admitted to Radcliffe College, graduating cum laude in 1904. Anne went with her, helping Helen with her studies.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN KELLER P/88

Today I will continue my series on Evangelical women who lived in the second half of 1800 and felt called to ministry despite the opposition of men, this time sharing the story of a woman named Helen Keller. She lived from 1880 - 1968. Her parents were Arthur H. Keller, a farmer and a newspaper editor, and Katherine Adams Keller. They lived in Tuscombia, Alabama.

Several months before Helen's second birthday, a serious illness left her deaf and blind. She had no formal education, and since she could not speak, she developed a system for communicating with her family by feeling their facial expressions.

Recognising her daughter's intelligence, Helen's mother sought help from experts including inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who had become involved with deaf children. Ultimately she was referred to Anne Sullivan, a graduate of the Perkins School for the Blind, who became Helen's lifelong teacher and mentor. Although Helen initially resisted her, Anne persevered.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; AMELIA GIBSON P/87

 

In this story I will continue to focus on Evangelical women who lived in the second half of 1800 and felt called to ministry despite the opposition of men, this time sharing the story of a woman named Amelia Gibson. She lived from 1879 -1955. Amelia and her husband the Rev. Reuben A. Gibson were ordained in the Pentecostal denomination and pastored the Zion Gospel Temple.

Amelia and her husband founded as well the Zion Bible Institute in East Providence, R.I., which began as a single house, but grew to contain 19 buildings, a faculty of 12, and a student body of 200.

The students graduated as evangelists, pastors and missionaries. They came from all parts of the world. Today the school is in Massachusetts and is known as North Point Bible College.

Amelia died in 1955. 

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; AMY CARMICHAEL P/86

                                                                                                                                                                             

In this post I will continue to share the story of a woman named Amy Carmichael. She lived from  1867 - 1951. Initially Amy travelled to Japan, staying for fifteen months, but returned home for health reasons. After a brief period of service in Sr Lanka, she went to Bangalore, India, for her health, where she chose to stay to continue her work as a missionary.

Amy founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901, to continue her work. Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu, thirty miles from India's southern tip.This place became a sanctuary for over one thousand children. Her work started with a girl named Preena. Having served as a temple servant (serving as a temple prostitute) against her wishes, Preena managed to escape. Amy provided her shelter, thus beginning her new ministry. In 1918, Dohnavur added a home for young boys, many born to the former temple prostitutes.

The Dohnavur Fellowship continues the ministry, now supporting appr. 500 people on 400 acres with 16 nurseries and a hospital.