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Born March 5, 1920, in Washington, DC
Died June 28, 2012, Oakland, CA
Bishop Kelly was the first Black woman bishop of a major religious denomination in the United States. In 1984, she was elected head of the San Francisco-area United Methodist Church, which comprised nearly 400 churches and 100,000 members. Following her retirement, she became a visiting professor at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. Kelly was the 2002 recipient of the Thomas Merton Award and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2000.