Imagene Bigham Stewart (September 23, 1942 – May 30, 2012) was an American minister and activist. She ran the House of Imagene Shelter and Women's Center in Washington, D.C.

Imagene Stewart
A smiling Black woman with hair in a curly bouffant style; she is wearing a print top and a matching headband
Stewart in a 1981 publication of the Federal Women's Program
Born
Imagene Bigham

September 23, 1942
DiedMay 30, 2012 (aged 69)
Occupation(s)Baptist minister, activist

Early life and education

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Stewart was born in Dublin, Georgia, the daughter of J. C. Bigham and Mattie Watkins Bigham. Her father was a pastor.[1] She graduated from Washington Technical Institute[2] and the Wesley Theological Seminary.

Career

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Church work and leadership

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Stewart joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a young woman and attended the 1963 March on Washington.[3] She was one of the first women ordained in the National Baptist Convention denomination and had her own congregation, the Greater Pearly Gate Full Gospel Baptist Church.[4] In 1969, she co-founded the Afro-American Women's Clergy Association and was president of the association in the 1990s.[1][5] She hosted a Sunday morning radio show. In 1996, she was made a bishop in the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship denomination.[1]

House of Imagene shelters

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In 1972, drawing from her own experience of homelessness, Stewart opened the House of Imagene, a shelter serving homeless veterans.[6] She preached and served free meals on troubled street corners.[7] In 1974 she opened a women's shelter for domestic violence survivors, in Prince George's County, Maryland.[1] In 1981, she received an Outstanding Women of the Year award from the NAACP, for her shelter work.[8]

Stewart accepted no government funding for her shelter program; instead, she courted the attention and support of wealthy and conservative political and military leaders, including the Reagans and Bushes. She attended Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball in 1981, telling a reporter "I may be poor and broke, but there's no sense hanging around with those who are poor and broke."[9] Political commentator Armstrong Williams helped her pay the shelter's back rent in 1997.[10] The House of Imagene struggled financially for years,[4] and permanently closed after a fire in 2010.[3]

 
Gordon Klingenschmitt, Katie Mahoney, and Stewart praying at the White House (c. January 2006)

Chaplaincy and other work

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Stewart was an inventory management specialist at the Government Publishing Office in the 1970s. She was the first Black national chaplain to the American Legion Auxiliary, elected in 1993.[11] She was also chaplain to the Tuskegee Airman Civil Air Patrol at Andrews Air Force Base.[6] She officiated at veterans' funerals,[12] and spoke and wrote about honoring the American flag.[5] In 1999, she demonstrated in front of the Justice Department with other religious leaders, seeking an investigation into the FBI's response at Waco in 1993.[13]

Personal life

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Stewart's first husband was Lucius Johnson; they married in 1958. Her second husband was Albert Stewart. She had two sons.[3] She died in 2012, at the age of 69, from ovarian cancer.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Samuel, Yvonne (1996-03-29). "Bishop Shares Insight on Women's Shelters". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Bishop Imagene Stewart, D.C. Social Advocate and Founder of House of Imagene, Dies at 69". AFRO American Newspapers. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  3. ^ a b c "Imagene Stewart". Black Women's Religious Activism. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  4. ^ a b Wheeler, Linda; Castaneda, Ruben (2024-01-08). "House of Imagene Shelter May Have to Close the Door; D.C. Row House is Facing Foreclosure". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  5. ^ a b Stewart, Imagene B. (1998-06-12). "Respect your country, honor its flag". The Record. p. 59. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b Thompson, Scott B. Sr. (2009-09-05). "Imagene Stewart". Laurens County African American History. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  7. ^ Gaines-Carter, Patrice (2024-01-03). "Prayer, Potato Salad are Weapons in Shaw Minister's War on Drugs". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  8. ^ "GPO's Imagene Stewart Receives NAACP National 'Outstanding Woman' Honor". Women in Action. 11 (2): 8. July–August 1981.
  9. ^ "Reagans Attend All the Balls". The Columbus Ledger. 1981-01-21. p. 42. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Homeless shelter's manager is still facing eviction". Potomac News. 1997-06-30. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Belko, Mark (1993-09-09). "Legion auxiliary has black chaplain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 25. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Wee, Eric L. (1997-11-30). "Cuts rob vets of final salute; Many now go to grave without Taps". The Charlotte Observer. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Johnston, David; Lewis, Neil A. (1999-09-02). "U.S. Marshals Seize Tape from FBI". The News Tribune. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-25 – via Newspapers.com.
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