Mabel Vivian Broome
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), a former slave and one of the most famous African-American leaders of all time, once said of The Salvation Army: “I have always had the greatest respect for the work of The Salvation Army, especially because I have noted that it draws no color line in religion.”
In 1915 Mabel Vivian Broome was commissioned as the first African-American Salvation Army officer in the United States. Her first assignment was to the Chicago (Austin #22) Corps, then Chicago (Temple #1) Corps, and later to the Chicago #2 Slum Settlement Corps.
At the Slum Settlement Corps, Lieutenant Mabel became one of Chicago’s legendary “Slum Sisters,” a position that required dedication and hard work. Slum Sisters ministered to the most impoverished communities and aided mothers and children, the sick and disabled, by performing housework, cooking meals, mending clothes, and bathing children. They prayed with, and sang for, the people they served. The Sisters ministered to patrons of brothels and saloons and conducted open-air services for all who passed by. They sold the War Cry and solicited donations of food and clothing. In the evenings, the beloved “sisters” held meetings at the corps.
In short order, the Slum Sisters gained the community’s trust and were revered by civic leaders. Not surprisingly, at times they experienced animosity and distrust, especially from businesses that were negatively affected by their work. Lieutenant Broome experienced admiration and derision while serving in neighborhoods polarized by racial differences. After serving only three years as a Lieutenant, she resigned, likely as a result of exhaustion and other health related complications.
Following a period of recovery, Lieutenant Broome again committed herself to her beloved Army ministry. She was reinstated and assigned in 1921 to the Evangeline Booth Home and Maternity Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, a home for unwed mothers. She received the rank of Ensign. Unfortunately, in 1930 Mabel Broome succumbed to a fatal infection. Her Promotion to Glory saddened her colleagues, and especially the multitude of women and families she loved and served over her 15 years of ministry in Chicago and Boston.
Ensign Mable Broome is remembered for her courage during the unsettling racial disparity in American history and her love of The Salvation Army’s hands-on ministry.
There was an old Rabbi who was once asked why so few people were able to see God. He wisely replied, “Because people aren’t willing to stoop that low.” God was born in a manger, and he is especially concerned for the least, the lowest and the lost.
When we come to Jesus, we come with a request - to make us clean. He’ll give it all back and more, but first we must ask him to clean us out! And what does he ask in return? Simple! Like Mable Broome, to search out the least, the lowest and the lost and start serving.
Question: Have you come to Jesus and asked him to clean you out? If so, have you made yourself available to pay it forward in service to others?