Mother Leafy Anderson (1887–1927) was born in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
in the 19th century.
She was a
Spiritualist, and her
mediumship included contact with the spirit of the
Native American war chief
Black Hawk, who had lived in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
and Wisconsin, Anderson's home state.
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
in the 1920s, a loose confederation of churches largely based in the African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
community.[ The church she founded in featured traditional "Spirit Guides" in worship services, with a mixture of ]Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Christian iconography,[ as well as special services and hymns that honored the spirit of the Sauk leader Black Hawk.][
After Anderson's death, her successor, Mother Catherine Seals, then led the church, The Temple of the Innocent Blood, until her death, at which point it fractured,][ giving rise to a multiplicity of Spiritualist denominations in New Orleans and elsewhere.
These denominations, along with a number of similar but independent Spiritualist churches across America, are known today as the "Spiritual Church Movement."][
]
See also
*Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
*Spiritualist Church
A spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal spiritualist movement which began in the United States in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in ...
* List of Spiritualist organizations
References
Afro-American religion
American religious leaders
People from New Orleans
People from Wisconsin
1887 births
1927 deaths
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