The Deaconess Foundation this fall will launch the Institute for Black Liberation to help develop Black leaders in the St. Louis region who can help their communities heal from internalized racism. Participants will learn tactics to help combat stereotypes and to celebrate Blackness in ways that help communities.
The century-old company Emil Frei and Associates teamed up with muralist Cbabi Bayoc to change how Jesus and Mary Magdalene are portrayed in liturgical art.
/ Bethany Johnson-Javois begins her role as president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation on Oct. 18.
Bethany Johnson-Javois remembers praying in the former Deaconess Hospital’s chapel in the 1990s. She asked God to heal her father, who was suffering from a heart condition, and promised to commit her life to serving others.
Her father is alive today, and Johnson-Javois credits the hospital for saving his life. Deaconess Hospital closed in 2012, and in its place sprang a foundation dedicated to promoting racial equity for children in the St. Louis region.
More than two decades later, when the
Rev. Starksy Wilson stepped down as head of the Deaconess Foundation, Johnson-Javois wanted to become its president and CEO.