Harris, Barbara Clementine
1930-2020 · Contribution: 1980-2002
Episcopal bishop
Became the first woman consecrated a bishop in the 500-year history of the worldwide Anglican Communion when she was ordained suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1989, breaking a barrier that had stood across the Communion's more than 165 member countries
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1930, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Active since
- 1980
- Category
- Religious & Spiritual Leadership
- Best known for
- First woman bishop in the history of the Anglican Communion
Impact on the world
Harris broke a barrier that had stood across the Anglican Communion's 165-plus member countries, weathering global controversy, including the Archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to recognize her, to open the episcopate to women.
An alternative history
What Would the World Look Like Without It?
One contribution. Many possible consequences. No single-person origin story.
Imagine this selected contribution absent, not the person or the entire field. The areas below are reflection prompts related to this discipline, not verified chains of direct dependency.
Sources
- Source lookupFind
NPR
Exact source links open the cited record. Source lookups help locate legacy references whose original records did not include a direct URL.
2 more sources and references are available to members.
Related visionaries
Jones, Absalom
1746-1818
First African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church; founded the first Black Episcopal congregation in the United States
Crummell, Alexander
1819-1898
Became one of the first Black Americans ordained an Episcopal priest, founded St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., the first independent Black Episcopal congregation in the city, and in 1897 co-founded the American Negro Academy, the first major organization supporting Black scholarship in America
McKenzie, Vashti Murphy
1947-present
Became the first woman elected bishop in the more than 200-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2000, later becoming the first woman to serve as Titular Head of the denomination and, in 2021, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches
Hall, Prathia LauraAnn
1940-2002
Credited as the originator of the phrase “I have a dream,” spoken during a 1962 prayer vigil that Martin Luther King Jr. attended and later asked her permission to echo in his own preaching, while serving as one of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's first female field secretaries and later becoming a pioneering Baptist minister and womanist theologian