Black History Month: Remembering Dr. Thelma Adair
Dr. Thelma Adair died last August just a few days before her 104th birthday. Dr. Adair was the first African American Woman to serve as moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA (the precursor to our denomination, the PCUSA). But that was just a fraction of Dr. Adair’s service to the church, her community, and the world. Dr. Adair was an expert in early childhood education. As the PCUSA New Story writes, “She organized and directed daycare centers and Head Start programs for the children of migrant farm workers and for the children of working parents in New York City. As a specialist in early childhood education, she also wrote numerous books and articles that would become resources for educators around the country.”
Dr. Adair and her husband, The Rev. Arthur Eugene Adair founded the Mt. Morris Presbyterian Church in 1943. They were leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, and as her obituary stated, they helped shaped the “spiritual and social landscape” of Harlem.
As Moderator of the 188th General Assembly in 1976 she told the Assembly:
“’If we’re going to follow Jesus Christ, we are following a radical. We’re following a man who spoke out, acted and lived in a radical way.’
‘You are not helpless,’ she told the Assembly. ‘You have power as an individual, and you have power you can find and possess as a group. There are avenues of action. Don’t go home apathetic,’ she urged those in attendance. ‘Go home radicalized by your faith, if you follow Jesus Christ.’”
May we take her words to heart as we live through these most challenging times.
Here are links to the PCUSA New Article about Dr. Adair and to her obituary if you would like to read more. May we aspire to live lives as full and faithful as Dr. Adair’s.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/thelma-adair-obituary?id=56177177