Rev. Qiyamah A. Rahman
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is primarily remembered as a non-violent civil rights activist and leader. His assassination shook the world and caused widespread rioting in over 100 American cities. In life, Dr. King spoke about how he wanted to be remembered: “I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr, tried to give his life serving others.” Are we as Unitarian Universalists honoring his full legacy? We will explore the life of this iconic leader on the 53rd Anniversary of his death, as we seek to rededicate our vision for an inclusive, free, and just world.
Qiyamah A. Rahman, is a UU minister and resides in St. Croix, VI, where she served the UU Fellowship of St. Croix from 2012-2018. Besides her passion as a minister and writer, she is a social worker, researcher and community activist focused on social justice. Rev. Qiyamah earned her Bachelor’s in Education and Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan. She has a Masters of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School and a doctorate in Africana Women’s Studies from Clark Atlanta University.
Rev. Rahman devotes her research to the narratives of UU Black women and girls including research on violence against women in Ghana, South Africa and the United States. She challenges us to expand our scholarship on the presence of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Unitarian Universalists.
As Minn’s Lecturer for 2020 she presented three lectures on Black UU women and Black UU clergy women. She is currently working on an anthology on Black Unitarian Universalist Clergy Women to be published by Skinner House Books. She has just received a grant from the UU Women’s Federation to create a website devoted to Black UU Women and Girls.