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The Rev. Dr.
Joan Brown Campbell
Director, Department
of Religion
The Rev. Dr.
Joan Brown Campbell is an ordained minister with standing in
two Christian denominations, the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ) and the American Baptist Church. Like many women in
her generation, the Rev. Campbell was first a wife, mother &
community volunteer. At age 50, the Rev. Campbell was ordained.
She was already a leader in the ecumenical interfaith movement
where she gave leadership for over 30 years.
Dr. Campbell
is truly a "first woman." In every job she held, she
was the first woman to carry that responsibility. She was the
first woman to be Associate Executive Director of the Greater
Cleveland Council of Churches; the first woman to be Executive
Director of the U.S. office of the World Council of Churches;
the first ordained woman to be General Secretary of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; and today, she
is the first woman Director of Religion at the historic Chautauqua
Institution. Her daughter, Jane Campbell, follows in her mother's
footsteps as the first woman mayor of Cleveland.
Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, speaking about Joan Campbell, referred to her as "a
woman of courage and compassion." He pointed out that the
Rev. Campbell was the only women in the clergy procession of
over 200 for his enthronement as Archbishop of South Africa.
"Her voice helped to bring an end to the evil of apartheid."
As General Secretary
of the National Council of Churches and as Executive Director
of the U.S. office of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Campbell
participated in some of the great historic events of the last
century. She led a delegation to present the Catholic edition
of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible to Pope John
Paul II. She organized volunteers to work for the election of
Carl B. Stokes as the first black mayor of a major American city.
She worked with Martin Luther King and brought him to her own
congregation, the first white church in Cleveland to receive
Dr. King. Dr. Campbell served as an honorary election monitor
with President Kaunda of Zambia in the election of Nelson Mandella
as the first African president of South Africa, and she negotiated
with Fidel Castro and President Clinton the return of Elian Gonzales
to his father. Today they live in Cuba.
In addition,
she was co-director with the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the mission
to Belgrade where, with the help of the Serbian Orthodox Church,
they successfully negotiated the release of American soldiers
held captive. She serves as a member of the board of Rainbow
Push. Dr. Campbell traveled with U.S. President Clinton to the
funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Israel. She has led
peace missions to the Middle East including meetings with the
major leaders in the region.
The Rev. Joan
Campbell is an activist who believes deeply that in a democracy,
citizens must act on their conscience. She was quoted as saying
during her daughter's race for mayor, "America's brightest
and best should run for public office. This is what gives democracy
its vibrancy and its dignity."
Today, Dr. Campbell
is the Director of the Department of Religion at the Chautauqua
Institution, a center for religion, the arts, education and recreation.
Her accomplishments and achievements are many and varied, including
eleven honorary doctorate degrees. Dr. Campbell is a sought after
lecturer and preacher. Her work has been published widely. She
holds numerous national and local offices, including: past member
of the U.S. State Department advisory committee on Religious
Freedom Abroad, Trustee for the Council for a Parliament of the
World Religions, the Fund for Education in South Africa, the
advisory committee for Americans for Humanitarian Trade with
Cuba, life member of the NAACP, and many others. Today, she continues
her commitment to peace as chair of the Global
Peace Initiative of Women.
She has three
adult children and eight grandchildren.
Publicity
Documents
The following
bios are MS-Word documents. Click on each to download.
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