Celebrating Black History Month - Rev. Earlean Miller, first African-American woman Lutheran pastor

In 1979, Earlean Miller became the first African-American woman to be ordained as a Lutheran pastor in North America. She was raised Baptist in Robbins, Illinois and supervised Sunday School at New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

After working as a secretary for 20 years for the Jewish Vocational Service and other organizations, she felt called to the Lutheran ministry. She received her Master's of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at chicago and was ordained in 1979 in Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Gary, IL.

Rev. Miller was  invited  to preach at the International Black Lutherans in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, as the first African-American who was ordained.

She passed away in 2014 at 78 years old.