Prathia Laura Ann Hall Wynn (January 1, 1940 – August 12, 2002) was an American leader and activist in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, a womanist theologian, and

ethicist An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and (importantly) is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgment. Following the advice of ...

. She was the key inspiration for

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

" speech.

Biography

Early life

Hall was raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, the daughter of Berkeley L Hall and Ruby Hall, née Johnson. Her father founded Mount Sharon Baptist Church, an inner-city congregation in an under-served area of the city.Oral with Sheila Michaels, 1999, . Her father was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

and a passionate advocate for racial justice, who regarded her as his successor. He inspired her to pursue religion and social justice. Prathia believed she was brought into the world for a reason – to integrate religion and freedom together. Her leadership potential was recognized early. She credited many groups, such as the

National Conference of Christians and Jews The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures. The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...

for singling her out and helping her to develop. Hall attended predominantly white schools until the age of five; she took a train ride South with her sisters to visit their grandparents. The girls were forced to sit in the segregated seats located just behind the engine."Prathia Hall"
''This Far By Faith'', PBS. This was her first experience of dehumanizing discrimination.

Civil rights involvement

By her mid-teens, Hall hoped to join the Civil Rights Movement. In high school, she became involved with Fellowship House, an ecumenical social justice organization, where she studied the philosophy of nonviolence and direct action. After graduating from high school, she attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, located in Philadelphia, not far from her home. In 1961, while still a junior at Temple, Hall was arrested in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

, for participating in the anti-segregation protests on Maryland's rural Eastern Shore. She was held without bail in jail for two weeks. After graduating from Temple with a degree in political science, Hall joined the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segreg ...

(SNCC); she worked with

Charles Sherrod Charles Melvin Sherrod (January 2, 1937 – October 11, 2022) was an American minister and civil rights activist. During the civil rights movement, Sherrod helped found the Albany Movement while serving as field secretary for southwest Georgia ...

Southwest Georgia Southwest Georgia is a fourteen-county region in the U.S. state of Georgia. It has a 2010 census population of 496,433, and is the least populated region in Georgia, just slightly behind Southeast Georgia. Additionally, the area has historical ...

. She became one of the first women field leaders in southwest Georgia. Hall later worked in Terrell County, Georgia, known as "Terrible Terrell County." because of its violence against civil rights activists. African Americans who attempted to register to vote would end up missing or dead. On September 6, 1962, nightriders fired into the home where Hall and other activists were staying, wounding her, Jack Chatfield, and Christopher Allen. She was shot at by and jailed many times in Georgia, including in the notorious

Sasser, Georgia Sasser is a town in Terrell County, Georgia, United States. The population was 393 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Sasser was established in 1881. The Georgia Gener ...

, jail. While working for SNCC, Hall canvassed door to door to register voters. She also taught in

Freedom Schools Freedom Schools were temporary, alternative, and free schools for African Americans mostly in the South. They were originally part of a nationwide effort during the Civil Rights Movement to organize African Americans to achieve social, political and ...

(educational programs to teach potential voters how to prepare for and pass the required voter registration tests). She became involved in the

Albany Movement The Albany Movement was a desegregation and voters' rights coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, in November 1961. This movement was founded by local black leaders and ministers, as well as members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comm ...

. She became known for her oratorical power, which she expressed in movement meetings and preaching.

"I Have A Dream"

In September 1962, Hall agreed to participate in a service commemorating Mount Olive Baptist in Terrell County, which had been burned to the ground by the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

. It had been a center for voter registration and for other mass meetings in the county among African Americans. The service was attended by

and SCLCs strategist

James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct ...

. Hall was scheduled to deliver a prayer during the service. According to Bevel, "As she prayed, she spontaneously uttered and rhythmically repeated an inspiring phrase that captured her vision for the future-'I have a dream'". Bevel claims that her use of this memorable phrase is what inspired King to begin to use it as a fixture in his sermons.

Selma, Alabama

Hall was called to

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abo ...

in the winter of 1963 after SNCC field secretary

Bernard Lafayette use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

was beaten and jailed there in relation to demonstrations for voter registration. There were numerous instances of brutality. The violence became too much for Hall after the events of

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

on March 7, 1965, when marchers intending to go to the state capital were beaten on a bridge just outside the city. Hall suffered a theological crisis related to these events. She resigned from SNCC in 1966 after it began to shift away from continued support of

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

Later life

Hall decided to pursue divinity studies and ordination, after many years of wrestling with a calling to the ministry. She moved to Roosevelt, New York with her husband Ralph Wynn. While living in NY, she earned a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

Master of Theology Master of Theology ( la, Theologiae Magister, abbreviated MTh, ThM, or MTheol) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a sta ...

, and Ph.D. from

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

, in New Jersey. In 1978 Hall began serving as pastor at the Mt. Sharon Baptist in Philadelphia, driving there every weekend from Princeton. Hall struggled with religion after her daughter died of a stroke. She later had some chronic issues, suffering from pain due to injury in an old accident. This ultimately contributed to her death many years later. Hall was one of the first women ordained in the

American Baptist Association The American Baptist Association (ABA) is an Independent Baptist Christian denomination in United States. The headquarters is in Texarkana, Texas. The principal founder was Ben M. Bogard, a pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Little ...

. Hall joined the faculty at United Theological Seminary in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

, eventually becoming dean of African American studies, and director of the school's Harriet Miller Women's Center. She was a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. She later joined the faculty at the

Boston University School of Theology Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological sch ...

, holding the Martin Luther King Chair in Social Ethics. Her work focused on womanist theology and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

. Hall was well known for being a compelling speaker and preacher. In 1997, ''Ebony'' magazine named Hall as number one on their list of "Top 15 Greatest Black Women Preachers". She remained active in her role in the until her death in 2002 after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 62.

Quotations about Hall

References

Further

External links

SNCC Digital Gateway: Prathia Hall
Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing from the inside-out {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Prathia African-American activists Activists for African-American civil rights African-American Baptist ministers Liberation theologians Womanist theologians American women activists American ethicists Christian ethicists 1940 births 2002 deaths Selma to Montgomery marches 20th-century African-American women Women civil rights activists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States