The Exact Synonym for “Missionary” is “Negro Teacher”: Black Feminism in the Sunday School

Abstract

African American Sunday school teachers in the early twentieth century were motivated by an ethic of care that was spiritual, historical, and political. This essay reconstructs the image of missionary educator as previously defined or experienced by missionary educators in white religiosity by utilizing the image of othermother presented in the scholarship of Patricia Hill Collins. The central argument, that the pedagogy of missionary othermothers coalesced with the elements of power and caring in black women’s struggles for survival, quality of life, and full citizenship status, gives voice to nameless Black teachers and aids in constructing an African American epistemology of teaching.