- Collection:
- Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
- Title:
- Adams talks about being a Christian in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment (2:30)
- Creator:
- Adams, Joanna Moseley, 1944-
- Contributor to Resource:
- De Catanzaro, Christine D.
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2004-05-13
- Subject:
- Feminism
Social movements
Women's studies - Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
- Medium:
- audiocassettes
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1944, Adams spent much of her childhood in Meridian, Mississippi. She entered Emory University in 1962 and graduated with a degree in English in 1966. During her senior year at Emory she married her classmate Alfred B. Adams III. Her husband attended Emory Law School and the couple had two children (1968 and 1970). After a few years of teaching at Grady High School in Atlanta, Adams entered Columbia Theological Seminary, graduating with honors in 1979. In the same year, she became Associate Pastor and Minister at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta. She held this position until 1986, when she took over as pastor of North Decatur Presbyterian Church in Decatur, GA. In 1991, Reverend Adams was appointed Senior Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in northwest Atlanta, becoming the only women to hold this position in a parish of this size in the United States. She held the position for ten years. After serving as the Co-Pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, she returned to the Atlanta area in 2003. Author of numerous articles and sermons, Adams has served in leadership positions on several church and community boards, including Columbia Theological Seminary and Agnes Scott College.
The granddaughter and great granddaughter of ministers, Adams describes her love of God from a very early age, saying that one of her favorite childhood games was "preaching." She believed, however, "that one had to choose either motherhood and marriage, or service to God. You had to go one way or the other." Adams did go on to be both a wife and mother and also was a minister. She discusses the history of women in the Presbyterian Church, and how that has affected her expectations. She also talks about the Equal Rights Amendment and how natural it was for her, as a Christian, to support it. Adams describes the pivotal role her church (Central Presbyterian) played in establishing homeless shelters in downtown Atlanta during the 1987 crisis in homelessness. She goes on to describe how, in 1991, she took over as Senior Pastor for Trinity Presbyterian Church, becoming the first woman in the United States to be in charge of a church of that size. Adams talks about her experiences there, and the importance of women leading in large parishes, stating that although women have come a long way in the Presbyterian Church, there is still in fact a "stained glass ceiling." "And when I think how much simpler my life would have been if I had just belonged to the book club, but I did know that I had a purpose."
Transcript of this excerpt: JA: In the midst of the struggle here in Georgia, I went with my husband, who is an attorney, to a meeting of attorneys who worked -- who did litigation work for railroads. The American Association of Railroad Lawyers, or something. And they had a beautiful, wonderful meeting in the Napa Valley. I believe this was in 1979. And I was -- Al invited me to go, and he was a young lawyer himself then, and we were going to connect with the Railroad Trial Council that referred cases to young lawyers like my husband. And so, the first morning we were at the meeting and we went to the dining room, and here was the guy, the guy who was this big railroad lawyer who we’d gone out to be nice to. He and his wife invited Al and me to join them for breakfast. Well it was just the happiest, sweetest thing, and we buttered our toast and sugared our coffee and we were just sitting there enjoying one another immensely, and the guy’s wife -- when there was a pause in the conversation -- leaned over to me and said, “I understand you are a Presbyterian minister.” And I said, “That’s right, I am.” She said, “Well let me ask you this. Have you ever met a Christian woman who is in favor of that horrible ERA?” It was one of those moments where, you know, your life sort of passes before your eyes. I said, “Well, yes. And you have too. You’re sitting across the table from someone who understands herself to be a Christian disciple. And because of my faith, I am committed quite deeply to the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.” To this day, I do not understand why the Equal Rights Amendment didn’t pass. I don’t understand it. It’s so perplexing to me. Because it’s so obvious why there ought to be an Equal Rights Amendment. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coles/id/2099
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/coles:2099/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: Rev. Joanna Moseley Adams oral history interview, Georgia Women's Movement Oral History Project, W008, Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Ga.
- Extent:
- 20 pages (two audio cassettes)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Women's Movement Project Collection
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
