Mother Leafy Anderson (1887–1927) was an American spiritualist, who was born in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in the 19th century. She was a Spiritualist who claimed her

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

included contact with the spirit of the Native American war chief Black Hawk, who had lived in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and Wisconsin, Anderson's home state. Some reports say Anderson was born in Balboa, Wisconsin in 1887. Records vary as to her marital status. In 1913, Anderson founded the Eternal Life Spiritualist Church in Chicago. In 1919, she moved to New Orleans. Some believe that she also established churches in St. Louis, New Jersey, and Indiana Anderson was the founder of the

Spiritual Church Movement The spiritual church movement is an informal name for a group of loosely allied and also independent Spiritualist churches and Spiritualist denominations that have in common that they have been historically based in the African American communit ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in the 1920s, a loose confederation of churches largely based in the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

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 emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

iconography, as well as special services and hymns intended to honor the spirit of the Sauk leader Black Hawk. Eleven congregations grew out of the original church, with locations in Memphis, Little Rock, and Pensacola. 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."

References

Afro-American religion American religious leaders American women religious leaders People from New Orleans Religious leaders from Wisconsin 1887 births 1927 deaths Founders of new religious movements Female religious leaders {{Afro-American-religion-stub

See also

References