AME Church Elects First Female Bishop

C I N C I N N A T I, July 12, 2000 -- The nation’s oldest black church on Tuesdaynight elected the first female bishop in the denomination’shistory.

Delegates to the general conference of the African MethodistEpiscopal Church elected the Rev. Vashti McKenzie of Baltimore toone of four bishop positions on the second ballot.

“Because of God’s favor, the stained glass ceiling has beenpierced and broken,” McKenzie said.

The Rev. Richard Norris of Philadelphia also was elected bishop.Delegates elected the Rev. Gregory Ingram of Detroit and the Rev.Preston Williams of Atlanta to the two remaining positions on thethird ballot.

Momentum clearly had been building toward election of a woman,even though delegates last weekend rejected a resolution that wouldhave required a woman to be chosen as one of the new bishops.

Cheers After Announcement

Delegates cheered loudly and McKenzie was surrounded bysupporters when the announcement of her election was made.

In her acceptance speech, McKenzie praised the pioneer work ofwomen who had been trying to become bishops for several decades,saying they had “sacrificed, cried, died, and gave their verybest.”

“Today, I not only stand on the shoulders of the called-upwomen, but on the shoulders of my brothers.”

McKenzie was one of two women among 42 candidates for bishop.

A majority of the ballots cast was required to win each of thefour bishop’s positions vacated by retirements. None of the 42candidates received enough votes on the first ballot, so morevoting rounds were planned into the night.

Approximately 1,800 delegates are attending the generalconference and were eligible to vote. Historically, multiple roundsof balloting are routinely needed in order for bishop candidates towin enough votes for election, church spokesman Mike McKinney said.

The two female candidates were McKenzie, pastor of PayneMemorial AME Church in Baltimore, and the Rev. Carolyn TylerGuidry, a presiding elder and former pastor who supervises 19 AMEchurches in the Los Angeles area. Guidry ran unsuccessfully forbishop at the last general conference in 1996, while McKenzie was afirst-time candidate.

The election was originally scheduled for Monday, but wasdelayed by other church business and discussions about how theballoting would be conducted.

First Electronic Vote

It marked the first time in the denomination’s 213-year historythat the general conference has ever voted electronically forbishops and other church officers. In the past, voting was on paperballots that were counted by hand, often causing bishop electionsto run into the early morning hours.

The AME Church has never had any women among the 20 bishops thatgovern it during the four-year intervals between generalconferences. It is the oldest U.S. black denomination and has 2.3million members in the United States, Canada, England, Africa andthe Caribbean region.

Women have run for 20 years for AME bishop without winning.Guidry said her 1996 showing in which she won 200 votes on thefirst ballot and 193 on the second, before withdrawing, was thebest that a female candidate has made.

Male and female activists attending this year’s generalconference have argued that the church should have a female bishopbecause women have served it capably for years as pastors andsupervising elders, and because they are the majority of itsmembership. Guidry noted that 16 of the 19 pastors she supervisesare men.

Women make up about 70 percent of the denomination.