Annie Armstrong
1850-1938
Annie Walker Armstrong's rallying cry was, "Go Forward!" She emerged as a powerful leader when she turned her energies to uniting women to the cause of Christian missions - to share Jesus Christ with those who did not know Him and to provide humanitarian services to those in need.
"Miss Annie," as she was known, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 11, 1850, the second youngest of five children to James and Mary Elizabeth Walker Armstrong. Her Baptist roots and the religious climate of the late nineteenth century helped Armstrong to become a "shaper of missions." Armstrong’s mother was a devout Baptist and active in her church; her father died when she was young. With her mother as a role model, Armstrong’s involvement in missions activities evolved through her home and church environments.
The City of Baltimore also influenced Annie Armstrong, as living in the city broadened her horizons and facilitated her interest in the African American population, immigrants, the sick, and the poor. A turning point in Armstrong’s life came in 1880 after she heard a speech on the destitute conditions and needs of Indigenous people in Oklahoma. She and other women organized to gather gifts of money and clothing. This experience crystallized her idea of encouraging women to organize into groups to educate and help those in need.
Armstrong founded and served as the first president of the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society of Maryland (1882) and the Women's Missionary Union (WMU). She concurrently held these two leadership positions, until her retirement in 1906, while supervising the Maryland Missions Room. Under her leadership, what started as a missions library and reading room, expanded to become a publisher and distributor of missions literature. She also served as an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention of 1888. The WMU honored Armstrong by renaming the Easter Offering for work the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for Home Missions in 1934.
With her ability to pull forces together, Armstrong unified the missions efforts of all the Protestant denominations. She worked tirelessly for unity within the Southern Baptist community.
Beyond addressing a national meeting of the Women's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, she taught Bible classes and held mothers’ prayer meetings. She encouraged other women's groups to interact similarly with African Americans in their respective communities. As a result of this, two African American women were appointed as missionaries.
While working as a missionary with Indigenous people, Armstrong provided much-needed clothing and supplements. She also rallied groups to support immigrants who were arriving at the port of Baltimore, orphans, and the poor with education and funding. Armstrong’s mission work encompassed people of all cultures, races, ages, and economic levels. She was a "dreamer in action." When she saw a need, she dreamed about how to meet that need and was gifted in involving others to carry out that dream.
Armstrong resigned her leadership positions in 1906 in opposition to the inclusion of the Women's Missionary Union training school with a men's seminary. She believed that the organization could not devote attention to missions and women's work in churches while raising funds to manage a school. After her resignation, Armstrong continued her missions lifestyle, and immersed herself in church activities involving the needs of her city. One of her quotations still inspires us today:
"The future lies all before us...shall it only be a slight advance upon what we usually do? Ought it not to abound, a leap forward, to altitudes of endeavor and success undreamed of before?"
Annie Armstrong died in Baltimore at age 88 on December 20, 1938, and was buried in historic Green Mount Cemetery with her parents and elder siblings.
Biography courtesy of the Maryland Commission for Women, 1992; updated 2023.