Rest in Power, Vonda McDaniel

July 15, 2026

Joerg Rieger

The first person that Rosemarie and I sought out after moving to Nashville and Vanderbilt in 2016 was Vonda McDaniel. This had to do with our growing sense that the world can only be changed through deep organizing that touches all levels of life.

At the time, Vonda was just a few years into her role as president of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, but her reputation as labor leader, organizer, and person of faith preceded her. When she passed away in July of 2026, unexpectedly and way too soon, this reputation is what everyone celebrated.

What is less well known are some of the unexpected directions Vonda McDaniel’s commitments to faith and labor took over the course of her life. Unlike many in the South who are also part of faith communities and the labor movement, Vonda was making efforts to connect the two. She was one of the earliest participants in a class that Rosemarie and I taught at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. And while she was enrolled as an auditor, she was also a presenter and leader who helped us understand the labor movement better, just as we pushed for a deeper sense of the role of religion and cooperative labor in both church and unions. Each time this class was taught again, Vonda was a guest lecturer who inspired and challenged new generations of students. In the process, both the labor movement and the churches were challenged to think outside the box and to embrace new visions. The Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice grew out of these efforts.

In addition, Vonda got involved in the development of worker cooperatives. While it was a core theme in our Vanderbilt course, it took shape in the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development. SEC4CD was co-founded by Rosemarie and Benny Overton, who still co-direct it today. Worker cooperatives dovetail with the concerns of the labor movement, as the heart of both is not merely the safety and well-being of workers but a push to take work and labor more seriously. Workers are the ones who make the economy go round—during the COVID-19 pandemic we became even more aware of the essential nature of work—and thus deserve not only fair treatment but also a voice. Political democracy is only as good as the economic democracy on which it rests, and worker cooperatives present a way forward that honors this insight.

Faith and cooperative labor eventually came together in what we are calling Solidarity Circles. These circles are cohorts that put faith communities together with the solidarity economy. Here, too, Vonda McDaniel was ahead of the times. After participating in the first of these circles (which now have had over 300 participants), she became a consultant with the program. As the Southeast Center led an effort to put faith and cooperatives together, the Wendland-Cook Program took this work back into faith communities. We do this because we are realizing that faith communities cannot be built from within but need to be responsive to where the world is going and where the divine is at work in ways that are often missed.

We are grateful that Vonda McDaniel was a long-time board member of both the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development and the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice. Her support and contributions will be appreciated for a long time.

Just prior to her untimely death, Vonda McDaniel had just stepped into her new role as co-director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, and we were beginning to make plans for the next collaborative projects. The projects that will still come to fruition has to do with the relationships and networks Vonda was connected with. Nothing else has ever changed the world for the better and nothing else ever will.

“Nashville, Tennessee mourns the loss of Vonda Adair McDaniel, a beloved daughter, sister, aunt, servant leader, labor advocate, woman of faith, and tireless champion for working people. A proud Nashvillian, Vonda’s life was deeply rooted in family, faith, service, and justice. She grew up in the life and legacy of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, a church whose history and witness helped shape her lifelong commitment to community, civil rights, and the dignity of all people.”

Vonda McDaniel

Dec 18, 1965 — Jun 30, 2026