Martha Jayne Keys (August 25, 1892 - December 22, 1975) was an American Christian minister. She was the first woman to be ordained in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

and was president of the West

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

conference branch for five years. She was also the author of a 1933

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

drama, ''The Comforter''.

Early life and education

Keys was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, to Thomas J. and Lizzie A. Keys. In the 1910s, she graduated from

Payne Theological Seminary Payne Theological Seminary is an African Methodist Episcopal seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is the oldest free-standing African-American seminary in the United States. Incorporated in 1894 by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, it ...

. She earned her Doctor of Divinity from the same university in 1930. On April 12, 1933, she copyrighted the single act

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, ''The Comforter,'' 22176 under the name Evangelist Dr. Martha Jayne Keys Marshall.

Career

Campaign for ordination of women

Keys campaigned and introduced a bill to the AME General Conference for the ordaination of women as itinerant elders in 1935 (and/or 1936) and again in 1940. At the 1936 AME General Conference where she was a delegate, she earned the support of her cohorts, prominent ministers, the presiding elder of Cleveland, Ohio, and the AME women's

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

societies to accomplish the goals of her bill. Though it was initially rejected, she vowed to continue reintroducing and recampaigning for the bill until it was enacted. Finally, in 1960, the AME subsequently removed all restrictions placed on women's advancement in leadership roles.

Church leadership roles

By 1947, she had been

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of five churches. In 1951, after she was ordained, Keys became pastor of the Evangelical Rescue Mission at 2113 W. Walnut in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Martha Jayne 1892 births 1975 deaths African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy People from Mayfield, Kentucky 20th-century American women writers African-American dramatists and playwrights American Christian writers Women Methodist bishops American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers

Early life and education

Career

Campaign for ordination of women

Church leadership roles

See also

References