The Reverend. Dr. Newsome-Camara is the daughter of the late noted civil rights attorney Clarence W. Newsome and Evangelist Dr. Cora F. Duncan. She is the stepdaughter of the late Deacon Alfonso Duncan. She is the granddaughter of Evangelist Effie Jeffries and The Reverend Henry Jeffries, who founded Bethel Church of God in Christ in the Pentecostal second awakening era. Many family members who were pastors and evangelists nurtured her to serve the church. She worked in churches as a Sunday school teacher, youth minister, choir director, usher, and Christian education director.
She graduated from Virginia Union University and the University of Vermont with degrees in Education. As an Assistant Professor of Education at Simmons College, Boston, The Reverend. Dr. Newsome-Camara acknowledged her call to Christian ministry. She preached her trial sermon on October 3, 1983, at St Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cambridge with her mother and grandmother in the co. She enrolled at Boston University School of Theology, ultimately graduating with a Master of Divinity and Doctorate in Church History focused on Black Clergy Leadership Education. She was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and mentored by The Reverend. Dr. Leroy Attles, pastor of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, and her father in the ministry. She is now a United Methodist Elder.
The Reverend. Dr. Newsome-Camara became the Associate Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University in 1988. In 1990, she became Dean for Student Affairs at the School of Theology and their first African American dean. As Assistant Professor of Church History, she taught Preaching, Church History, Spiritual Formation, and Black Church Studies such as Womanist Theology and Black Clergy Leadership Education. Her research has covered the African American church's development in African Diaspora and the dialogue between African American Christianity and African culture. She is a trained liturgical dancer through the Eagles International Training Institute. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
She is married to the historian, librarian, and author, Mr. Kantigi Kwabena Camara, MLS., former Director of the Library of the John D. O' Bryant African American Institute at Northeastern University. Imani-Sheila and Kantigi prayerfully guide the life of their child, Mariama-Alexis Akosua Camara.
The Reverend Dr. Newsome-Camara, and her sister, The Reverend Dr. Clarencia Shade, sustain their family's ministry legacy. The Reverend Dr. Newsome-Camara brings her gifts to the role of Pastor-Teacher at Greenwood Memorial and her role as a Regional Leader in the Commonwealth East District of the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church.
