Prathia Hall facts for kids

Prathia Laura Ann Hall Wynn (January 1, 1940 – August 12, 2002) was an important American leader. She was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement, a special kind of theologian (someone who studies religion), and an ethicist (someone who studies moral principles). Many people believe she was a key inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Who Was Prathia Hall?

Her Early Life and Calling

Prathia Hall grew up in Philadelphia. Her father, Berkeley L. Hall, was a Baptist preacher who started a church in a part of the city that needed help. He was very passionate about fairness for all races. He saw Prathia as someone who could follow in his footsteps. He encouraged her to combine her faith with working for justice. Prathia felt she was born to bring religion and freedom together.

People noticed her leadership skills early on. She said groups like the National Conference of Christians and Jews helped her grow. Prathia went to mostly white schools until she was five. Then, she took a train ride South with her sisters to visit their grandparents. On the train, the girls had to sit in special seats just for Black people, behind the engine. This was her first time experiencing unfair treatment.

Joining the Civil Rights Movement

By her mid-teens, Prathia wanted to join the Civil Rights Movement. In high school, she joined Fellowship House, a group that worked for social justice. There, she learned about nonviolence and how to take direct action. After high school, she went to Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1961, while still in college, Hall was arrested in Annapolis, Maryland. She was protesting against segregation in Maryland and was held in jail for two weeks without bail.

After college, Prathia joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She worked with Charles Sherrod in Southwest Georgia. She became one of the first women to lead SNCC efforts in that area. Later, she worked in Terrell County, Georgia. This place was known as "Terrible Terrell County" because it was very dangerous for civil rights activists. Black Americans who tried to register to vote often faced harm. On September 6, 1962, attackers fired into the home where Hall and other activists were staying. She and two others were injured.

She was shot at and jailed many times in Georgia. While working for SNCC, Hall went door-to-door to help people register to vote. She also taught in Freedom Schools. These schools helped potential voters learn what they needed to know to pass the voting tests. She became involved in the Albany Movement. Prathia became known for her powerful speaking, which she used in meetings and when preaching.

The "I Have a Dream" Inspiration

In September 1962, Prathia Hall took part in a service for Mount Olive Baptist Church in Terrell County. The Ku Klux Klan had burned this church down. It had been a key place for voter registration and meetings for Black Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. and SCLC leader James Bevel attended the service. Prathia was scheduled to give a prayer.

According to James Bevel, "As she prayed, she spontaneously uttered and rhythmically repeated an inspiring phrase that captured her vision for the future—'I have a dream.'" Bevel said that her use of this powerful phrase inspired King to start using it in his own speeches.

Standing Up in Selma

In the winter of 1963, Prathia Hall was called to Selma, Alabama. This was after SNCC worker Bernard Lafayette was beaten and jailed there for voter registration protests. There was a lot of violence. The violence became too much for Hall after the events of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965. On that day, marchers trying to go to the state capital were badly beaten on a bridge. These events made Prathia question her faith. She left SNCC in 1966 because the group started to move away from supporting nonviolence.

A Life of Faith and Teaching

After many years, Prathia Hall decided to study religion and become an ordained minister. She moved to Roosevelt, New York, with her husband, Ralph Wynn. While living there, she earned several advanced degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. In 1978, Hall began serving as pastor at the Mt. Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia. She drove there every weekend from Princeton. She faced personal challenges, including the loss of her daughter, which tested her faith. She also dealt with chronic pain from an old injury.

Prathia Hall was one of the first women to be ordained in the American Baptist Association. She later joined the faculty at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. She became the dean of African American studies and director of the school's Harriet Miller Women's Center. She also taught at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. Later, she joined the faculty at the Boston University School of Theology. There, she held the Martin Luther King Chair in Social Ethics. Her work focused on womanist theology and ethics.

Hall was very well known for being a powerful speaker and preacher. In 1997, Ebony magazine named her number one on their list of "Top 15 Greatest Black Women Preachers." She continued her important work until she passed away in 2002. She was 62 years old and had been battling cancer.

What People Said About Prathia Hall

I remember sitting one day in the little area outside Forman's, transcribing a mass meeting speech given by Prathia Hall, a SNCC field secretary then posted to Selma, Alabama. As she described the violence in Selma, the awful beauty of her words—and the intensity of her moral outrage—took me by such force that I remember typing on to that long, green mimeo stencil with tears just streaming down my face. It was as if some force of nature had swept me away to another place.

Prathia Hall is one of the platform speakers I would prefer not to follow.

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

See Also

• List of civil rights leaders