Contains primary source documents.

Until a quarter century ago little was known or acknowledged about the role American women played in the shaping of America's religious history. In Our Own Voices reclaims and affirms the previously ignored historical contributions of women by recovering many long-silenced voices. Here, woven together into a multicultural, multiethnic, and multifaith tapestry, are many of their remarkable contributions to American religion written in their own words. Restored for contemporary women and men are the lyric voices of women representing various locales, time periods, and religious viewpoints: indigenous women, early colonists, religious council leaders and reformers, slaves and free women, commune leaders, Christian lesbians, witches, and Islamic and Buddhist feminists. Controversial issues are examined, including the clash of Catholic nuns and lay women with the hierarchy of priests, bishops, and the Pope; black women's experience with slavery and more recently with the womanist liberation movement; and the rights of women to lead and hold official office within their own religious faith. Illuminating firsthand accounts - selections from diaries, letters, civil and religious documents, and formal histories - re-create in vivid and compelling detail the intricate fabric of women's religious aspirations, struggles, and accomplishments over the last four centuries, including: a pioneer nun's account of her meeting with Billy the Kid; Mother Jones urging miners to strike to "get a little bit of heaven before you die"; and a letter written by the founder of Hadassah stating her decision to say Kaddish for her mother. Included among these works are the writings of such notable matriarchs as Mother Jones, Zora Neale Hurston, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Lucretia Mott, Toni Morrison, Las Hermanas, Kathryn Kuhlman, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The body of their work and the spirit of their words continue to speak to both the minds and the hearts of women and men everywhere.