Biography
Louise Williams Bishop has achieved an incredible degree of personal success in three separate, but related careers – radio, the ministry and politics. The theme that runs through all her work is her desire to bring inspiration and assistance to those people in need.
Born in Cairo, Georgia, she moved to Philadelphia as a young child. A graduate of West Philadelphia High School, she earned a degree in communications and radio broadcasting from the American Foundation of Dramatic Arts. Although drawn to the emerging field of television, she began her communications career at WHAT radio, as the youngest voice in radio. She immediately fell in love with radio and the power and responsibility the microphone gave her to communicate with the masses on a daily basis. Moving to WDAS-AM, she hosted "The Louise Bishop Program" for over 49 years. Her program was consistently one of the highest rated programs at the station and was an institution in the Philadelphia media market.
She has used this forum to inform and unite people around social, civic and religious issues; to advocate for services for the poor, including job search; and to bring the message of political leaders to the people. In 1978 she was called to the ministry and became an ordained Evangelist by the Pennsylvania Baptist Association. She felt God moving her to minister more than just between records on her gospel program.
Having just experienced the hurt and pain of a recent divorce, she felt she could minister to those with the same heartache and sorrow. She has served her ministry with the Message of God’s Saving Grace since that time and preaches and teaches all over the City, including conducting revivals all along the East Coast. On Sundays 6:00am to 12 noon she can now be heard on WURD Radio 900, and weekdays 5:00am to 6:00am.
One Sunday morning in 1987, a blind man whose wife had deserted him and their five young children (three still in diapers), called into Louise's gospel program begging for help. She opened the microphone and asked the people of Philadelphia to respond. Within five minutes the City's Managing Director, as well as scores of people, answered the call. The power of that response led to the beginning of her third career.
Recognizing how good God had been to her, she realized she had to do more and made the decision to run for the open state representative seat created by Chaka Fattah's move to Congress. She was first elected to serve in the state House of Representatives in 1988 and has been overwhelmingly re-elected to office nine times by her constituents of the 192nd Legislative District. Located in West Philadelphia, her District is a diverse area that encompasses some of Philadelphia's most affluent and poorest residents. It is also home to many Philadelphia institutions including St. Joseph's University, Overbrook High School and Pinn Memorial Baptist Church.
As part of her legislative duties, Representative Bishop is the Majority Chair of the Children and Youth Committee. She also serves on a number of committees, including Aging and Older Adult Services; Health and Human Services and Democratic Policy. She is the most senior African-American woman serving in the General Assembly, is a former officer of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus and the Philadelphia Delegation.
Representative Bishop has sponsored legislation to address a number of critical issues, including domestic violence, day care, mandatory drug treatment, education, health care and Sarcoidosis. She is most proud of the legislation which improves the quality of life for children and older people. In her district she sponsors an annual "Spring Fling" Fair for young people and the "Senior Expo" which brings services to older people. With a keen interest in community development, she convinced Mercy Wellness Center and the University of Pennsylvania to establish a presence in the district. She has worked with St. Joseph's University and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary to expand their services into the surrounding community. She has also worked tirelessly to secure resources from state, city and private sources to develop business along urban corridors, especially along Lancaster Avenue, between 52nd and 63rd Streets. She has also supported the renovation of the Overbrook Train Station and new housing development in the Carroll Park area.
Honorary Awards
Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monrovia College
Doctor of Laws Degree Honoris Causa from Eastern University
Important Facts
Previous secretary and treasurer of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus
Previous member of the Legislative Housing Caucus
"Woman of the Year Award" from Operation Push by Rev. Jessie Jackson
Public Service Citation from the Jewish Center
"Mother of the Year Award" from Pinn Memorial Baptist Church (numerous other awards)
Associate Minister at Pinn Memorial Baptist Church
Instrumental in bringing the Opportunities Towers to the Haddington area for seniors
Comey Institute – Conflict Resolution Program
Influenced President Clinton's bill for National Adoption
Adopted the two High Schools in her district – Overbrook and Lamberton
Sponsored School violence conferences at both high schools
Annual Panelist for the PFT school education conference
Established the Lancaster Avenue Business Association
Other Offices and Memberships:
Member, Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus
Member, Community College Caucus
Member, Philadelphia Delegation
National Political Congress of Black Women
NAACP
Advisory Board of Women of Excellence, Inc. in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Black Elected Officials
National Organization of Women
National Conference of State Legislators
STA Human Services Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures
Afro-American Historical & Cultural Museum
Baptist Minister’s Conference
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
