Celia Parker Woolley
Celia Parker Woolley | |
|---|---|
 Woolley, circa 1897. | |
| Born | Celia Parker June 14, 1848 |
| Died | March 9, 1918 (aged 69) |
Celia Parker Woolley (June 14, 1848 – March 9, 1918) was an American novelist, Unitarian minister and social reformer. She also served as a president of the Chicago Woman's Club and the founder of the Frederick Douglass Woman's Club.[1][2]
Biography
[edit]Early Life
[edit]Born Celia Parker on June 14, 1848, in Toledo, Ohio, She moved to Coldwater, Michigan at a young age.[3] Parker's parents were both educated, and her father was a respected architect.[4] She graduated from Coldwater Female Seminary in 1866 or 1867, and in 1868, she was married to dentist J. H. Woolley.[4] In 1876 the couple moved to Chicago. They had one child who died in adolescence.[5]
Ministry & Beliefs
[edit]Woolley began studies for the ministry and became pastor of the Unitarian Church of Geneva, Illinois from 1893–1896, being ordained in 1894. As a pastor, she was hailed for not shying away from speaking about topical issues of the time, and is credited with getting people interested in the faith with her popular sermons. She was then pastor of the Independent Liberal Church, Chicago, 1896–98. She wrote for prominent Unitarian and Christian publications, such as The Christian Register, based in Boston; Unity, a Unitarian publication in Chicago; and The Open Court, a journal based in Chicago combining science and religion.[6][7][8]
Activism
[edit]In 1904 she moved with her husband to Chicago's South Side to do social work, because she was concerned with issues of racism and human rights.[9] In 1904 she established the Frederick Douglass Center in order to promote opportunities for blacks as well as work on promoting better interracial relationships and cooperation.[9] In 1906, she founded the Frederick Douglass Woman's Club, one of the few interracial women's clubs in Chicago.[2] Louis G. Gregory spoke there in April and August 1911,[10] and was one of the keynote speakers of the 1912 NAACP conference in Chicago,[11] and hosted 'Abdu'l-Bahá, then leader of the Bahá'í Faith, at the Center in September during his journeys in the West.[12]
She was active as a lecturer and in the work of women's clubs. Some of this work emphasized literature and related biography.[13] George Eliot and Robert Browning were two interests.[13]
She died in Chicago's South Side on March 9, 1918.[9]
Selected works
[edit]- Love and Theology, novel (1887; republished as Rachel Armstrong, or, Love and Theology)
- A Girl Graduate, novel (1889)
- Roger Hunt, novel (1893)
- The Western Slope, autobiographical and historical (1903)
References
[edit]- ^ "An Able Woman Preacher". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News. 17 August 1894. Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Crocco, Margaret; Hendry, Petra Munro (1999). Pedagogies of Resistance: Women Educator Activists, 1880-1960. Teachers College Press. pp. 32. ISBN 0807762970.
- ^ "Mrs. Celia Parker Woolley". Los Angeles Herald. 11 September 1894. Retrieved 10 January 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Hendricks, Wanda A. (2014). Fannie Barrier Williams: Crossing the Borders of Region and Race. The new black studies series. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03811-2.
- ^ Lee Schweninger (1999). "Woolley, Celia Parker". American National Biography (online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500774. (subscription required)
- ^ The Christian Register 1915-11-25: Vol 94 Iss 47. Internet Archive. 1915-11-25.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Preview unavailable - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ Parker Woolley, Celia (June 21, 1894). "Liberal Religious Affairs in the West". The Open Court. 8 (25) – via OpenSIUC.
- ^ a b c "Woolley, Celia Parker (1848–1918)". Harvard Square Library. 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ * Celia Parker Woolley (29 April 1911). "Frederick Douglass Center, 3032 Wabash Ave". The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend ed.). Chicago, IL: Robert S. Abbott. p. 1.
- "Frederick Douglass Center, 3032 Wabash Avenue". The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend ed.). Chicago, IL: Robert S. Abbott. August 26, 1911. p. 1.
- ^ J. Hockley Smiley (4 May 1912). "Speakers encourage and tell of advance: Fourth Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People…". The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend ed.). Chicago, IL: Robert S. Abbott. p. 1.
- ^ "City Churches: Frederick Douglass Center". The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend ed.). Chicago, IL: Robert S. Abbott. 14 Sep 1912. p. 6.
- ^ a b Lee Schweninger (1999). "Woolley, Celia Parker". American National Biography (online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500774. (subscription required)
Bibliography
[edit]- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). . Encyclopedia Americana.
- George B. Utley (1936). "Wooley, Celia Parker". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
