Thea Bowman

Thea Bowman (1937 – 1990) Bertha Bowman was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1937. While her grandparents were slaves, her father was a physician, and her mother was a highly educated teacher. The Bowmans were Methodists, but when young Bertha was exposed to the lives and mission of Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, she asked her parent’s permission to become Catholic. Before Mississippi exploded in the violence and upheaval of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Bertha was subjected to the full horrors of the discrimination and segregation of the Jim Crow Laws. Despite the outrages, Bertha followed the call from Christ and found her vocation as a nun with the sisters of Perpetual Adoration and professed her solemn vows as Sr. Thea Bowman and the only black sister in the congregation. She excelled in her studies, and after her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, she was awarded a doctorate by Catholic University of America. Returning to Mississippi to take care of her elder