Biography
Early Life
Cheryl Townsend was born in Boston in 1947. Her father, Murray Luke Townsend Jr., worked as a civil servant. Her mother, Evelyn Reid, was a homemaker. Cheryl married Carlton I. Gilkes in 1968, but they divorced in 1971.
Education and Learning
Townsend Gilkes built an impressive educational background. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University in 1970. She earned a master’s degree in 1973 and a doctorate in 1979 in sociology. She studied theology at Boston University’s School of Theology from 1982 to 1986. Ursinus College honored her work by giving her a Doctorate of Divinity degree in 2022.
Teaching and Writing Career
Townsend Gilkes began teaching as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston University from 1978 to 1987. When she moved to Colby College in Waterville, Maine, she became the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of African-American Studies and Sociology. She is now retired from that position. She is now a visiting professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and other religious schools.
Townsend Gilkes writes about how central Black women are to African American communities and churches. She writes about their roles as church mothers, community workers, and agents of social change. Her research explains how race, gender, and class work together to affect black women’s lives. When black women face these different kinds of unfair treatment at the same time, it makes their lives harder and more complicated.
Townsend Gilkes also explores Black women’s experiences through the lens of womanism. She studied sanctified church women of the Pentecostal and Holiness denominations. She discusses how women have been key leaders in sanctified churches and the Uplift Movement of the 1890s. Her work connects these experiences to African traditions.
She has written many articles for academic journals and opinion pieces for the Religion News Service. She has also edited books of essays and written sermons for various publications.
Townsend Gilkes has traveled internationally to present her research. She served as the national lecturer for Sociologists for Women in Society during 2003-2004. The Eastern Sociological Society chose her as their Robin M. Williams Jr. Distinguished Lecturer from 1998-1999. They gave her a Merit Award in 2008.
Ministry and Service
Townsend Gilkes is an ordained Baptist minister. She has served as Assistant Pastor for Special Projects at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 1982. She has been active in the United Baptist Convention of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. She has served as both a parliamentarian and a board member.
Townsend Gilkes hosted a gospel music radio show called “The Uncloudy Day” on Colby College’s radio station for 19 years. Radio listeners knew her as “Dr. Dr. Cheryl.”
She belongs to many professional organizations, including the American Academy of Religion, American Sociological Association, NAACP, and Delta Sigma Theta sorority as a golden life member.
