Imagene Stewart

Imagene Stewart
A smiling Black woman with hair in a curly bouffant style; she is wearing a print top and a matching headband
Stewart in a 1981 publication of the Federal Women's Program
Born
Imagene Bigham

September 23, 1942
Dublin, Georgia, U.S.
DiedMay 30, 2012 (aged 69)
Occupation(s)Baptist minister, activist

Imagene Bigham Stewart (September 23, 1942 – May 30, 2012) was an American minister and activist. She ran the House of Imagene Shelter and Women's Center in Washington, D.C.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in Dublin, Georgia, the daughter of J. C. Bigham and Mattie Watkins Bigham. Her father was a pastor.[1] She graduated from Washington Technical Institute[2] and the Wesley Theological Seminary.

Career

Church work and leadership

Stewart joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a young woman and attended the 1963 March on Washington.[3] She was one of the first women ordained in the National Baptist Convention denomination and had her own congregation, the Greater Pearly Gate Full Gospel Baptist Church.[4] In 1969, she co-founded the Afro-American Women's Clergy Association and was president of the association in the 1990s.[1][5] She hosted a Sunday morning radio show. In 1996, she was made a bishop in the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship denomination.[1]

House of Imagene shelters

In 1972, drawing from her own experience of homelessness, Stewart opened the House of Imagene, a shelter serving homeless veterans.[6] She preached and served free meals on troubled street corners.[7] In 1974 she opened a women's shelter for domestic violence survivors, in Prince George's County, Maryland.[1] In 1981, she received an Outstanding Women of the Year award from the NAACP, for her shelter work.[8]

Stewart accepted no government funding for her shelter program; instead, she courted the attention and support of wealthy and conservative political and military leaders, including the Reagans and Bushes. She attended Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball in 1981, telling a reporter "I may be poor and broke, but there's no sense hanging around with those who are poor and broke."[9] Political commentator Armstrong Williams helped her pay the shelter's back rent in 1997.[10] The House of Imagene struggled financially for years,[4] and permanently closed after a fire in 2010.[3]

A white man in uniform, a white woman, and a Black woman in uniform, standing outdoors, eyes closed and hands raised in prayer
Gordon Klingenschmitt, Katie Mahoney, and Stewart praying at the White House (c. January 2006)

Chaplaincy and other work

Stewart was an inventory management specialist at the Government Publishing Office in the 1970s. She was the first Black national chaplain to the American Legion Auxiliary, elected in 1993.[11] She was also chaplain to the Tuskegee Airman Civil Air Patrol at Andrews Air Force Base.[6] She officiated at veterans' funerals,[12] and spoke and wrote about honoring the American flag.[5] In 1999, she demonstrated in front of the Justice Department with other religious leaders, seeking an investigation into the FBI's response at Waco in 1993.[13]

Personal life

Stewart's first husband was Lucius Johnson; they married in 1958. Her second husband was Albert Stewart. She had two sons.[3] She died in 2012, at the age of 69, from ovarian cancer.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Samuel, Yvonne (1996-03-29). "Bishop Shares Insight on Women's Shelters". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Bishop Imagene Stewart, D.C. Social Advocate and Founder of House of Imagene, Dies at 69". AFRO American Newspapers. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  3. ^ a b c "Imagene Stewart". Black Women's Religious Activism. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  4. ^ a b Wheeler, Linda; Castaneda, Ruben (2024-01-08). "House of Imagene Shelter May Have to Close the Door; D.C. Row House is Facing Foreclosure". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  5. ^ a b Stewart, Imagene B. (1998-06-12). "Respect your country, honor its flag". The Record. p. 59. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b Thompson, Scott B. Sr. (2009-09-05). "Imagene Stewart". Laurens County African American History. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  7. ^ Gaines-Carter, Patrice (2024-01-03). "Prayer, Potato Salad are Weapons in Shaw Minister's War on Drugs". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  8. ^ "GPO's Imagene Stewart Receives NAACP National 'Outstanding Woman' Honor". Women in Action. 11 (2): 8. July–August 1981.
  9. ^ "Reagans Attend All the Balls". The Columbus Ledger. 1981-01-21. p. 42. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Homeless shelter's manager is still facing eviction". Potomac News. 1997-06-30. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Belko, Mark (1993-09-09). "Legion auxiliary has black chaplain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 25. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Wee, Eric L. (1997-11-30). "Cuts rob vets of final salute; Many now go to grave without Taps". The Charlotte Observer. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Johnston, David; Lewis, Neil A. (1999-09-02). "U.S. Marshals Seize Tape from FBI". The News Tribune. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-25 – via Newspapers.com.