Sister Marguerite Green, rscj (1922-1997)

Sister Marguerite Green was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 2, 1922 and entered the Society of the Sacred Heart on March 8, 1944.

A dedication to love and learning:

She graduated from Barat College with a B.A. in history where she was immersed in many currents of social action, Catholic literature and philosophy, and political change in the Depression and war years. She went on to pursue graduate work at the Catholic University in Washington D.C.

According to her obituary,

“Conducting research for her dissertation on the labor movement gave her a powerful encounter with social justice and injustice, which revealed the process of history to her. Issues of justice remained important to her all her life.”

Sr. Green taught history at Barat College until 1983 where “she was the driving force behind Barat’s excellence with her work on the College Senate and on the Curriculum Committee.” She “strengthened her internationality” with Japanese studies at Sophia University in Tokyo, Women’s History at the University of London, and studied in the Middle East.

The Road to Selma

Like other women religious, Sr. Green was profoundly affected by the sweeping changes of the 1960s and 1970s.

“With her deep and serious historical insight, Marg entered profoundly into those changes. She did what she could for the large community at Barat, to analyze and to move beyond the restrictions of cloister. She even gave example by leading a group of students to Selma, Alabama, to participate in the voting rights march there. Her like-minded Superior encouraged it, even though the Society was still cloistered in the 1960s.”

Source: Archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart

 

 

 

This excerpt from the House Journal of the Society of the Sacred Heart notes Sr. Green and Sr. Kane’s participation in the march:

“March 29-31

Important: Unintentioned mission above: On March 25 Mother Kane and Green flew to Montgomery, Alabama, and participated in the public civil rights demonstation. Over 27 college students and Mr. Pounian, art instructor at Barat also went to Alabama.”

Sources Consulted