Sue Bailey Thurman, Senior Portrait
1 media/Sue_Bailey_Thurman_thumb.jpg 2020-10-27T14:37:51+00:00 Riza Miklowski 9698c57ff68a3ce4118b9f6b0ec0c3612e895e5e 10 1 Hi-O-Hi Yearbook, 1927 plain 2020-10-27T14:37:51+00:00 Oberlin College Archives Riza Miklowski 9698c57ff68a3ce4118b9f6b0ec0c3612e895e5eThis page is referenced by:
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Sue Bailey Thurman
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Sue Bailey Thurman (1903-1996 OC 1926) was an educator, author, and civil rights activist. She graduated from the College Preparatory Department at Spelman College in 1920 before continuing her education at Oberlin College. She graduated from Oberlin in 1926 with a Bachelor of Music degree. From 1926 to 1932, Thurman worked for the college division of the Y.M.C.A. as a national traveling secretary.
She married Dr. Howard Thurman, a theologian and religious leader, in 1932. The couple traveled to India between 1935 and 1936 as part of the Pilgrimage of Friendship to the East committee, which her husband chaired. While in India, she became the first African American woman to meet Mohandas Gandhi. During the civil rights movement, Thurman and her husband promoted the nonviolent resistance practices that Gandhi had employed in India.
Between 1940 and 1944, Sue Thurman founded the Aframerican Women’s Journal and served as the editor. This was the first publication created by the National Council of Negro Women. Thurman founded and chaired the National Council of Negro Women's National Library, Archives, and Museum. Sue Thurman, Dr. Howard Thurman, and Dr. Alfred Fisk created the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco in 1943. This was the first nondenominational interracial church in the United States. Additionally, Sue Thurman founded the Museum on Afro-American History in Boston.
Thurman was known for writing Pioneers of Negro Origin in California (1949) and The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro (1958). She served as the honorary chair of the Howard Thurman Education Trust after her husband’s death in 1981 until her death in 1996. Thurman was awarded honorary degrees from Boston University and Livingston College for her work promoting the study of African American history and the creation of an African American history museum. The Indian government honored her with a citation during the centennial celebration of Gandhi’s birth in 1991.
Sources:
Student File (Sue Bailey Thurman), Alumni & Development Records, O.C.A.
