Anna Howard Shaw

Anna Howard Shaw, the Story of a Pioneer

Anna Howard Shaw: The Story of a Pioneer is one of the classic autobiographies of American letters. A leader in the church as well as the suffrage movement, an M. D. as well as a powerful and eloquent lecturer, Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919) was a close associate of Susan B. Anthony and the first woman to receive the United States Distinguished Service Medal. Born in England, Shaw immigrated to the United States as a child and in 1880 became the first woman ordained as a Methodist preacher. She subsequently left the pulpit to serve as president of the National American Suffrage Association--and later, as head of the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense during World War I. Leontine T. C. Kelly was the first woman African American bishop in the United Methodist church. She retired in 1988.