Bertha K. Hurst

Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists

Biography of Bertha K Hurst, 1875- ?

By Clara Sodon, Student, Saint Martin's University, Lacey, Washington

Bertha K. Hurst (sometimes rendered K. Bertha Hurst) was born around 1875 in South Carolina. She completed two years of high school, and in 1890, she married Haitian immigrant John Hurst, ten years her senior and an active member and minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Like John, Bertha was an avid supporter of the AME Church, and dedicated over 50 years of her life to her missionary and civic duties and to serving the women of her community.

In 1912, Bertha and her husband traveled to Florida, where John served in the DeLand AME Church. Bertha's missionary work was rooted in her involvement with the Parent Woman's Mite Missionary Society. Ms. Hurst served as a delegate to the society at their 4th, 5th, and 6th quadrennial conventions. From 1927 to 1939 Bertha served as the Treasurer of this organization. In a 1931 missionary meeting of the AME church, Hurst announced that the organization had raised $107,975.18 for missionary work over the past four years, a testament to her dedication to the cause.

However, Hurst's leadership spread beyond the church. In 1914 Bertha traveled to Washington DC to attend the meeting of the Current Topics Club. Bertha attended the 1915 annual convention of the Women's Co-operative Civic League where she was elected treasurer. In May 1917, Ms. Hurst presided over a Women's Patriotic League meeting at the John Wesley ME Church. She was active in Black women's organized support for the war effort. In 1924, Hurst started a study club to enable women to learn about international issues through the International Council of Women of the Darker Races (ICWDR). In 1931, Bertha was appointed to the board of managers of the Maryland Training School for Colored Girls.

Often times Bertha's civic and religious work overlapped. Bertha was known to stand up in church and voice her opinion, even in the presence of wealthy, white people. Charles E. Stump quotes Ms. Hurst as claiming "I speak to you today as a woman, and my color has nothing to do with it. The greatest being on Earth is a woman, and there is no higher title than that of mother.... The mother should strive to make home happy and bring up her children properly. Teach them the doctrine of work. Teach them if they would wear fine clothes they must earn them." Bertha regarded her position as the Bishop's wife as a position of service, and consequently was highly regarded by the women who knew her for her humble willingness to serve. In 1928 Hurst gave the principal address at the Mt. Olive Church session of Methodist women. In 1934, Bertha was asked to be the guest speaker at Bethel AME Church in observance of Women's Day, explaining how women can aid Christianity.