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April 10
Howard Thurman, Luisa Capatillo, Dolores Huerta, and Richard Allen
David Barnhart
April 10, 2025
“Whoever has seen me has see the Father. I and the Father are one.” Berlin, 2022. Own photo.
Today marks the death, in 1981, of Howard Thurman, a pastor, mystic, theologian, and civil rights leader. He linked Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the practice of nonviolent resistance.
Today also marks the death, in 1922, of Luisa Capatillo, a Puerto Rican Christian anarchist who advocated for women’s rights and organized labor. She was briefly jailed in 1915 for daring to wear pants.
Today is the birthday, in 1930, of Dolores Huerta, who helped found United Farm Workers. She is the labor leader who helped popularize the slogan “Si, se puede!”
Today also marks the day that Richard Allen was installed as a bishop in the newly-formed African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816.
Reflection:
Luisa Capatillo wrote:
I refuse to accept the assertion of any historian who erroneously believes that women have no right to use their freedom without being considered corrupt or immoral, while men have been able to do whatever they want and indulge the most absurd and ridiculous whims, without being judged, repudiated or prevented from going where they choose, with no concern about not being paid attention to, respected or sought after. We are going to put an end to those unequal laws-where the few have a lot and the many have a little-in order to finally secure peace for the just and achieve the truth and justice that our sex deserves.
Howard Thurman wrote:
And this is the strangest of all paradoxes of the human adventure; we live inside all experience, but we are permitted to bear witness only to the outside. Such is the riddle of life and the story of the passing of our days.
He also wrote:
The movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of dedication, they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires.
Prayer: Great Mystery, we do not really know where we come from or where we are going, but we all witness the world and hear your call toward justice, fairness, wholeness. Bring us to fruition. Amen.