Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly (March 5, 1920 – June 28, 2012) was an American

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

. She was the second woman elevated to the position of bishop within the United Methodist Church, and the first African American woman.

Early life and personal life

Leontine Turpeau was born in Georgetown,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on March 5, 1920. She was the seventh of eight children born to David D. Turpeau Senior and Ila Marshall Turpeau. The Turpeau family then moved to Cincinnati when Leontine was a young girl. Her father was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister who later served four terms in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentar ...

. Her mother was an outspoken advocate for women and Blacks and a founder of the

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line ...

. Her brother, D. Rossman Turpeau was an educator in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1938 to 1941, Turpeau attended West Virginia State College. In 1941, she left school to marry Gloster B. Current, who was then serving as the executive director of the NCAAP's Detroit branch. He later became a Methodist pastor. The couple had three children together before getting divorced by the mid-1950s. In 1956, Turpeau married James David Kelly, a

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

minister.

Education

Kelly earned a B.A. degree from

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a private historically black Baptist university in Richmond, Virginia. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Ri ...

(1960) and completed graduate work in economics, history and humanities at

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrol ...

, and the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

. She served as a public school

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

in Richmond and

Northumberland County, Virginia Northumberland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,839. Its county seat is Heathsville. The county is located on the Northern Neck and is part of the Northern Neck George Wash ...

for eight years. Kelly completed the Course of Study for

Ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

Ministers in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

Annual Conference of the U.M. Church by attending summer school at Wesley Theological Seminary (1970, 1971). She earned her

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and d ...

degree from Union Theological Seminary in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

(1976).

Ministry

Kelly became a Certified Lay Speaker in Virginia in the late-1960s. She then served the Galilee Church (1969–75). She was ordained a deacon by William R. Cannon in 1972 and an elder by W. Kenneth Goodson in 1977. Kelly served on the staff of the Virginia Conference Council on Ministries (1975–77), directing social ministries. She then served as pastor of Asbury-Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia seven years before becoming Assistant General Secretary of the U.M. General Board of Discipleship with the portfolio of

Evangelism In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are ...

. Although a member of the Virginia Annual Conference in the Southeastern Jurisdiction, Kelly was elected to the episcopacy by the Western Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1984. The election was held on July 19, during the annual General Conference of the United Methodist Church. She was only the second woman, and the first African American woman, to become a bishop in any major Christian denomination in the world. She was assigned to the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

Episcopal Area, where she served until her retirement in 1988. Kelly also served on the U.M. General Board of Church and Society, as the President of the Western Jurisdictional College of Bishops, and on the executive committee of the Council of Bishops.

Awards and honors

In 2000, Kelly was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Indu ...

. She was the 2002 recipient of the

Thomas Merton Award The Thomas Merton Award has been awarded since 1972 by the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice in Pittsburgh, United States. It is named after Thomas Merton and is given annually to "national and international individuals strugglin ...

. Kelly held

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (1984),

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

(1989),

Christian Theological Seminary Christian Theological Seminary is an ecumenical seminary related to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It provides five degree-level education courses, three dual-degree programs, a Doctor of Ministr ...

(1989), Virginia Union University (1989),

Nebraska Wesleyan University Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...

(also 1989),

Bennett College Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it ...

(1991),

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliate ...

(1990) and

Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of ...

(1992).

Death

Kelly died on June 28, 2012 in Oakland, California.

References

External links

*The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Churc

*InfoServ, the official information service of The United Methodist Church.
Leontine Kelly's oral history video excerpts
at The National Visionary Leadership Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Leontine T. 1920 births 2012 deaths Virginia Union University alumni Wesley Theological Seminary alumni Women Methodist bishops American United Methodist bishops History of Methodism in the United States African-American Methodist clergy People from Cincinnati College of William & Mary alumni University of North Texas alumni West Virginia State University alumni Methodists from Virginia Methodists from Ohio