Newsmakers, February 26, 2015

Featured in this Show

• The Life and Legacy of Sister Thea Bowman

  Twenty five years after her death, the first and only African American nun to be part of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration is being celebrated for her influence on race and the Catholic Church.

  Growing up in Canton, Mississippi in the 1940’s and early 50’s, Thea Bowman was a protestant who converted to Catholicism and eventually moved to La Crosse at the age of 15 to join the FSPA.

  Sister Thea Bowman went on to have a significant role in pushing for equality for blacks in the south, and influence a new generation of young students who attended Holy Child Jesus Parish in Canton, Mississippi.

  One of those students is Dr. Deborah Jackson Pembleton, now a business professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota, who fondly remembers Sister Thea’s visits to teach elementary students.

  “Her enthusiasm was contagious. When she would come speak to us in the late 60’s, it would be like a breath of fresh air,” she said. “We would be able to see that so many things were possible, even though within our community, it did not represent an environment where we could go beyond the boundaries of Canton, Mississippi.

  Jackson Pembleton says four of her high school classmates in Canton eventually came to study in La Crosse at Viterbo University where Sister Thea was also educated and eventually headed the English department in the 1970’s.

  Jackson Pemberton vividly remembers what the visits were like from Sister Thea.

  “We would sing. She would tell us how we could be empowered, how we could do anything, how we could go anywhere. We loved to sing with her,” she said. “We were given strict instructions by the sisters to be on our best behavior when (Sister Thea) was there, and when she came you wouldn’t necessarily say she was on her best behavior. She would be rollicking with laughter. Her whole body would embrace the music, education and learning. She would be this glowing light for us.”

  Sister Thea’s legacy is so great that six schools around the country, a women’s center and a foundation bear her name.

  She died in 1990 after a battle with breast cancer.

  The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are hosting a series of events the last week in March in
  La Crosse to honor Sister Thea Bowman’s legacy.