SEATTLE, Wash. — As a Black female clergy member, the Rev. Dr. LaVerne Hall spent the time dedicated to her doctoral dissertation researching and learning all she could about Sojourner
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by Lee Ann Pomrenke
The Liberian matriarchs of my former congregation often answered the question, “How are you?” with the same phrase. It wasn’t the typical, “I’m fine” that I expect from others. Instead, they almost always responded, “I’m trying.”
Where did that answer come from? Was it about getting work done, while being hassled to hurry it up? Liberia was colonized by freed American slaves, so perhaps it could be traced all the way back through history to slavery? Or was it an indication that they were still safe and sound, making do in the midst of their home country’s 16-year civil war, which these women lived through? Now in their older years, it became applicable to aging and adapting to life in the United States. Might it be a statement of faith, as in “I am