The Rev. Carrie M. Hopkins was born on October 23, 1906 to the late Richard and Rosa Stewart in Winton, North Carolina. She was called home on July 20, 1998 while in route to the United Baptist Ministers Evening Conference of Baltimore.
Only formally educated to what is now considered a junior high school level, Rev. Hopkins was a lifelong learner. Because education was important to her, she attended night school while in her forties and enjoyed reading out loud her whole life.
Baltimore became her home after traveling here to care for a sick relative. She fell in love and married the late Linzie Hopkins and one child, Agnes, was born of this union.
Her love for the Lord spanned 86 years. As a child, she would pretend to hold church services, a game that became a reality in adulthood. Overcoming ostracism, criticism, scorn and deceit, in the late 1950s, Carrie M. Hopkins became the first African-American female to be ordained as a minister by the Baptist Convention of Baltimore. “If you live a clean and Christian life and if the Lord has your life, He uses you for certain things.”
This is my grandmother. This woman was a rock. She helped so many people and didn’t have much herself.
Submitted by: Thomas B. Smith, Grandson
