Bettie Thompson was a young African American woman who, in 1891, despite opposition, founded the James Street Holiness Church in Danville, Virginia during a time when African Americans, women, and the religious movement she embraced were all being excluded and ill-treated. Under Thompson’s guidance, the James Street Holiness Church endured and grew to become a successful church that, at its height, had over eight hundred members. Today the James Street Church is no longer a place of worship, but it embodies the rich history and contributions of African American women in Virginia, North Carolina, and the nation—history that has been continually and systematically underrepresented for centuries; but once these stories are told, they reveal how black women have been breaking down barriers for generations.