Ida Bell Robinson built the Mount Sinai Church of America, 84 churches from New England to Florida. She ordained 163 ministers, 125 of them women.

She was born on August 3, 1891 in Hazelhurst, GA, the seventh of 12 children. In 1909, Ida Bell married Oliver Robinson. In 1917 they joined the "Great Migration," moving to Philadelphia. Robinson ministered to people in their homes there, and eventually was appointed pastor in the newly-formed United Holy Church of America. But women pastors were not well accepted, and so Pastor Robinson determined to start her own church. That year she opened the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America. Her priority was to train and provide opportunities for women to preach. Robinson invested her own money to help other women and men start new churches and worked tirelessly to spread her message.