Description:
Recorded October 2, 1985 in Princeton, N.J. Part of oral history program for
clergywomen. Peggy Howland was a Presbyterian minister and a peace and
reproductive justice activist. Born in 1933, she graduated from Princeton
Theological Seminary and became the the 12th woman ordained a minister of
word and sacrament on October 19, 1958. She completed a Master of Divinity at
Union Theological Seminary in 1966. In 1968 she chaired the UPCUSA General
Assembly's subcommittee on Vietnam. In 1969 she took the pastorate of
Woodside Presbyterian Church (Troy, N.Y.). In Troy, she organized the Clergy
Consultation Service on Problem Pregnancies, a group of fourteen clergy who
provided "all options" counseling to women seeking legal or safe abortion. In
the years after Roe v Wade, Howland was active in the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice, seeking to maintain safe and legal abortion. In
retirement in Florida she was active in the Orlando Gay Chorus. She died of
COVID-19 in 2021.
Creator:
Howland, Margaret Elizabeth, 1933-2021. (interviewee), Brasfield, Alice, 1931- (interviewer)