Qiyamah A. Rahman papers

Qiyamah Aisha Rahman earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan. She worked as organizational developer for the Georgia Network against Domestic Violence, later known as the Georgia Coalition against Domestic Violence, 1987-1989, and subsequently with the Adult Services Unit of the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Social Services Section. Rahman was also involved with the work of the International Network Against Violence Against Women and conducted research on violence against women in Ghana, Sounth Africa, and the United States.

When living in Atlanta in 1992, Rahman affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist religion [UU], drawn to its social justice focus. Based in Charlotte, N.C., she was the first Black woman to serve as a UU District Executive, 1999-2005, for congregations in the southeastern U.S. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation. In 2007, Rahman earned a doctorate in Africana Women's Studies at Clark Atlanta University, writing her dissertation on the institutional response of the Unitarian Universalist Association to clergy sexual misconuct.

Called to ministerial fellowship, Rahman attended Meadville Theological School of Lombard College in Chicago. She completed her Master of Divinity degree and was ordained as a Unitarian minister in 2007. At the beginning of the following year, she began her ministerial career in Cape Town, South Africa, also serving as a visting academic at the University of Cape Town. Upon returning to the U.S., she was Director of Contextual Ministry and Senior Lecturer at Meadville Theological School. Reverend Rahman relocated to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2012. In St. Croix, she continued to engage issues of social justice, both as clergyperson at the UU Fellowship of St. Croix and as a social worker. In 2017, she founded the Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) program to assist members of vulnerable groups in St. Croix following Hurricane Maria. The following year, Reverend Rahman returned to Atlanta. Since retiring from social work, she has devoted time to researching the presence of Black women in the UU tradition.