Women in Christianity the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in "bringing help to suffering humanity". Much admired by Pope John Paul II, she was beatified in 2003, just six years after her death. Many Christian women and religious have been prominent advocates in social policy debates—as with American nun Helen Prejean, a Sister of Saint Joseph of Medaille, who is a prominent campaigner against the Death Penalty and was the inspiration for the Hollywood film "Dead Man Walking". Linda Woodhead states that, "Of the many threats that Christianity has to face in modern times, gender equality is one of the
Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt BA MA (December 6, 1880 - August 7, 1969) was an African American teacher of Latin and the author of an influential biography and Latin text book. Helen Maria Chesnutt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1880. Her parents were the African American author Charles Chesnutt, said to be the first important black American novelist, and Susan Perry. Helen Maria Chesnutt attended Smith College with her sister, Ethel, living off-campus as did Otelia Cromwell, the only other black student attending Smith College at this time. The Chesnutt sisters moved to four different addresses