Women of Faith Panel: Carrying the Legacy in This Time
The 5th Annual Interdenominational Ministers of Faith (IMF) Women of Faith Panel kicked off a week of events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. on Sunday, January 11th. Scarritt Bennett Center Racial Justice Ministries hosted the discussion, which was a part of MLK Week, produced by IMF.
The theme for 2026, Legacy in Her Hands: Women of Faith Keeping the Dream Alive, celebrated women who continue to carry Dr. King’s vision forward – resisting despair, nurturing hope, and building the Beloved Community through service, justice, and unity.
In a time of systemic injustice and moral crisis, this intergenerational conversation unpacked perspectives and examples of how women of faith continue to lead, heal, and inspire movements for change.
The panel included Mrs. Gloria Haugabook McKissack, a civil rights activist, educator and former Freedom Rider; Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock, Co-Pastor of Christian Journey Fellowship, Executive Director of Neighbor 2 Neighbor, andformer Chair and current member of the Nashville Community Review Board; and Ms. Diamond Bell, Youth Coordinator of the Southern Movement Committee.
Rev. Kelli X, Director of Racial Justice Ministries at Scarritt Bennett Center and Senior Pastor of The Village Church, moderated the discussion which explored ways in which faith, justice, and collective action remain vital tools for transforming our communities and carrying forward the dream Dr. King envisioned.
In her opening remarks, Scarritt Bennett Center Executive Director Rev. Dr. Sondrea Tolbert began by grounding those gathered in Scarritt Bennett history of racial justice. Rev. Tolbert shared, “We want to let you know you are in the spot where 2 individuals integrated Scarritt College: The first predominately white institution in Tennessee to integrate with two women in 1952.”
Those two women, Deloris Johnson and Leila Robinson, became a part of Scarritt College before Brown V Board of Education and well before other institutions of higher learning integrated.
Rev. Tolbert continued, “This is a place that embodies faith and justice, where courage is cultivated, where women have long been trusted with shaping the moral consciousness of our world.”
Rev. X opened the discussion expressing gratitude for all those gathered for the first event in a week of celebrations and tributes produced by IMF in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The Women of Faith Panel sets the moral and spiritual tone for the week of events that honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, shared Rev. X. She said that the panel theme Legacy in Her Hands: Women of Faith Keeping the Dream Alive reminds us that the work of faith and justice are not inherited automatically, they are chosen, practiced and carried out.
“Justice is something that we have to work to maintain,” stated Rev. X. “We don’t get to a place and get to stay there. We have to hold tight and continue to work toward it. Across generations, women of faith have held the dream of Beloved Community in our hands. Even when the world resisted it, distorted it or tried to destroy it, we continue to hold on and build toward it.”
Mrs. McKissack, Rev. Haddock and Ms. Bell indeed represented an intergenerational panel, each at different moments along their journey as advocates for racial justice rooted in faith.
Mrs. McKissack, the elder of the three, shared that all of us have faith, but not all of us have our faith tested. We may go through the deaths of friends and family or other tragedies that life holds. Yet McKissack was thinking of another kind of test.
“I’m talking about a different kind of test when you are confronted by an angry crowd of people who want to hurt you, maybe even kill you. That’s when you really get a test of faith. ‘Can I get through this?’ ‘Do I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior and that he will help me?’ That’s your real test of faith”
Rev. Haddock, a member of Generation X, said that when she thinks about the theme, Legacy in Her Hands, she not only thinks about women in her family and community, she also thinks about women who have been in the struggle.
“So, the legacy is something that isn’t light, because we like to carry things that won’t weigh us down, that are easy to carry. But the legacy I think about today when we are talking about Legacy in Her Hands, Women of Faith, Keeping the Dream Alive, keeping Dr. King in Mind, I’m thinking about a legacy that is heavy. So, Listening to Mrs. McKissack, it could not have been light.”
Haddock wondered aloud about what she was doing to pass the legacy on to younger generations, to keep the legacy alive.
Ms. Bell, the youngest of the three, said she recognized she has control over where her life is heading and the road she is walking.
“Mrs. McKissick said she passed the torch, well, I picked that torch up,” stated Bell. “So now I’m walking in my steps of leaving a legacy of community and building trust. I have to embody what I want to see in my community: embody church; embody accountability, compassion and passion for my people.”
Ms. Bell went on to say that she is carrying the torch, the legacy for the Brianna Taylors, the Sandra Blands, as well as for Delishia Porterfield who serves as an At Large Council member doing real work on the ground for the people.
“I know that it is hard,” shared Ms. Bell,” and that is why I’m here.”
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