Explore the life and legacy of Qiyamah

"Welcome to our EED Corner for our Elder Emeritus Director. We hope that you will enjoy Rev. Q's corner. Everything here is her voice, views, and musings. This space is an incredible collection of a life well lived, full of community care and inquiring about the hard things. This page, and the ResoUUrce Library, should be anyone's go-to for the historical perspective of Black lives in UUism that is told from the margins, bringing realness to the center. Please take the time to hold space for this living legend's incredible work and subscribe for newer updates. Our new blog on Substack is a fabulous place to end your journey as Rev.Q launches her 6-month series on UUism and life in Kenya after her pilgrimage." -- Rev. Crystal, Executive Director

Here you will find (click to jump down the page)

(SS= Sister Souurce)

SS Background:

Sister Souurce's inception
Rev. Q's Bio and Pictures
Sermons and Presentations

SS Historical Resources:

Rough Side of The Mountain Anthology (Black Clergy Women's Ministries in UUism)
Historical overview of Black UU women in UUism
Theological Reflections -- coming soon

SS Media:

Emeritus Blog (Rev.Q's personal blog) -- coming soon
(New!) SS Blog -- To the #BlackGirlMagic in YoUU
SS Convos Podcast -- 2021-2023, added to YouTube in 2025

SS Int'l Work

Rev Q on the Road -- Event Calendar

Coming soon: programming overview.

Subscribe for emails and to the calendar!

Inception: Why Sister Souurce?

"This website was born out of Unitarian Universalist Black women and girls’ needs and desires for a space, sanctified and made holy by our presence and devoted to our existence.

After years of research about Black UU women, mostly historic personalities, we recognized the even greater marginalization of girls and those who identify as women/femme (including queer identities). Our intent was to create a website for a more inclusive community. Here, we amplify our voices and our stories. Here, we make room for an inclusive range of folks to more fully identify and claim the richness of our lives as Black UUs with pride and intentionality.

This website exists because we recognize it is time for Black women, girls, femme folx to seize the opportunity to take charge of the narratives about our lives, our identities and to influence the shaping of an inclusive and accurate discourse of who we are while naming the celebratory and challenging moments in our lives as UUs.

This website allows Black UU women and girls (womxn, LGBTQIA+ and non-binary inclusive) a unique space to gather our stories and voices, to explore our presence in UUism, our accomplishments, our sorrows, our wonderings and wanderings. And to know those who came before us, on whose shoulders we stand, so that we might acknowledge those relationships and connections that sustain us.

In these arduous and challenging times, Black UU women and girls deserve a safe space to bring all of our multiple identities together. This is that space! Invoking all that is sacred and holy we invite you to explore, contribute and participate."

Rev. Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman -- 2021

Updates for 2025: We are now in a season of sustainability and growth, which includes programming and opportunities for connection beyond the resources of this incredible website. I want to thank Jan Carpenter Tucker for standing alongside me on this journey from 2021 to 2025, birthing the name of "Sister Source", creating our incredible logo, and designing our original website. We would also like to thank UU Women's Federation for investing in our website's creation in 2021 and for their continued support. We would also like to thank UU Funding Program for their investment along the way.

The life of Qiyamah -- Biography

Rev. Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman, prior to ministry, served as the first Black female district executive with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Southeast Region, formerly known as the Thomas Jefferson District.

She was ordained and fellowshipped in 2007 and is an alumna of Meadville Lombard Theological School where she served as the Director of Contextual Ministry and Senior Lecturer from 2008–2012. She transitioned to parish ministry, serving the UU Fellowship of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands from 2012–2018.

After Hurricane Maria struck and devastated the Virgin Islands in September 2017, Reverend Qiyamah acquired a grant from the UUA’s Disaster Relief Funds and assembled a work crew from public housing to clear debris from the premises of the elderly and disabled.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and a Master of Arts degree in social work from the University of Michigan. Her Doctor of Arts is from Clark Atlanta University’s Africana Women’s Studies where she conducted research on violence against women in the United States, South Africa, and Ghana.

She has contributed to several UU anthologies published by Skinner House Books and the author of Rough Side of the Mountain, an anthology about UU Black Clergywomen's experience in ministry. She was the Minns Lecturer for Fall 2020, focusing on the presence of Black women in UUism (watch it here).

She is the mother of three adult children and grandmother of two grandchildren.

black biographies black women in ministry

Rev.Q's Life & Legacy