America’s Real Sister Act: Illuminating the Hidden Lives and Legacies of Black Catholic Nuns in the United States

Join us as we welcome Dr. Shannen Dee Williams, author of the book “Subversive Habits Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle” as she examines the women’s religious life as a stronghold of white supremacy and racial segregation—and thus an important battleground in the long African American freedom struggle.
Drawing upon a wide array of sources, including previously sealed church records and over 100 oral history interviews, this book tells the story of America’s real sister act: how generations of Black Catholic women and girls called to religious life in the Roman Catholic Church fought against racism, sexism, and exclusion to become and minister as consecrated women of God.
Dr. Shannen Dee Williams is Associate Professor of History at the University of Dayton. She is an award-winning scholar of the African American experience and Black Catholicism with research and teaching specializations in women’s, religious, and Black freedom movement history.